England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor announces retirement from international cricket aged 30
Taylor has made the decision to retire after a well-publicised battle with anxiety
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Your support makes all the difference.England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor has announced her retirement from international cricket.
The 30-year-old made 226 appearances for her country after making her debut in 2006.
Perhaps the finest pure keeper in the world, no other woman has effected more dismissals than Taylor’s 232 across the three formats.
“This has been a tough decision but I know it’s the right one, for me and for my health moving forward. I can’t thank my teammates enough, both past and present, and the ECB for being supporters and friends along my journey,” Taylor said
“Playing for England and getting to wear the shirt for so long has been a dream come true and I have been blessed with so many great moments throughout my career. From making my debut in 2006, to Ashes wins, and of course the World Cup final at Lord’s, to name just a few.
“I’ve also been blessed with travelling the world and making lifelong friends along the way.
“To be right in the thick of women’s cricket as it’s gone from strength to strength – not only in England, but across the world – has been an amazing experience, and I can look back on what women’s cricket has achieved with great pride at playing some small part in it.”
Taylor retires as England’s second leading all-time run-scorer, with 6,533 international runs, including seven hundreds, all made in one-day international cricket.
She was, in many ways, a trailblazer – Taylor played first team men’s cricket at Brighton College and would go on to appear in grade cricket in Australia in 2015: the first woman to do so.
But it is for her exploits behind the stumps that Taylor might best me remembered. She possessed impossibly quick hands and reactions, with particular penchant for a leg-side stumping. She leaves the international arena having helped the team lift two World Cups (in 2009 and 2017) and a T20 World Cup (2009), and was named ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year three times.
“Sarah can be immensely proud of everything she has achieved in an England shirt, and of everything she has done for the women’s game,” Clare Connor, Managing Director of Women’s Cricket for the ECB, said.
“She is someone that young people can look up to, for her achievements and talent on the pitch – but also for her bravery and resilience off it. She has come through significant adversity and performed on the world stage for her country.
“We are very grateful to Sarah for her contributions to English cricket over the last 13 years. She has become a powerful voice within women’s sport and I’m sure she will make a success of the next stage of her professional life. We all wish her the very best.”
Taylor has publicly spoken of her battles with anxiety, and took an extended break from the game in 2016.
More recently she missed the T20 World Cup last year, and a portion of this summer’s Ashes,
“The England girls are role models on and off the field, and they have undoubtedly inspired – and will continue to inspire – so many young people to take up the game, girls and boys,” Taylor said.
“I can’t wait to see the heights that this team can reach.
“I am extremely proud of my career. I leave with my head held high and with excitement for what my future holds and what my next chapter brings.”
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