Sussex star Taylor in ICC team of decade

Sussex's Sarah Taylor has achieved the ultimate cricket accolade - she is in an international team of the decade.
Sarah Taylor in action behind the stumps for England / Picture: GettySarah Taylor in action behind the stumps for England / Picture: Getty
Sarah Taylor in action behind the stumps for England / Picture: Getty

Wicketkeeper and opener Taylor, 31, is the only England player named in the women’s ODI team in the ICC scheme, while bowler Anya Shrubsole, who alongside Taylor helped secure a home World Cup win at Lord’s in 2017, is the sole T20 representative.

Taylor, who joined the sport staff at Bede’s School in East Sussex last year, has been a trailblazer in the women’s game since making her breakthrough into the international scene as a teenager.

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In addition to her inclusion in the ODI team of the 2010s she was on the shortlist to be named ICC female cricketer of the year in a public vote.

That went to Ellyse Perry, although Afghanistan star Rashid Khan, who has had two spells with Sussex, was named men’s T20 player of the decade.

Taylor was part of the England team who retained the Ashes in Australia in 2008 and she has gone on to have a career full of memorable moments.

In 2008, she broke the record for the highest stand in women’s one day international cricket with a first wicket partnership of 268 with Caroline Atkins at Lord’s for England against South Africa – then became the youngest woman cricketer to score 1000 runs in ODIs.

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In 2009, she scored 120 at a run-a-ball in an ODI at Chelmsford, overtaking Enid Bakewell’s 118 in 1973 as the highest individual score against Australia by an Englishwoman.

Taylor was T20I Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and was in the first tranche of ECB central contracts for women players, announced in April 2014. She was ICC women’s ODI cricketer of the year in 2014.

In 2015 she became the first woman to play men’s grade cricket in Australia, as wicketkeeper for Northern Districts against Port Adelaide. At the 2017 World Cup, at which she and Tammy Beaumont set the record for the highest second-wicket partnership in women’s World Cup history (275) against South Africa.

She was part of the England team who won the World Cup.

In 2019, she announced she was retiring from international cricket following issues with anxiety.