‘It is a stupid game but that’s what makes it lovable’: Sarah Taylor on cricket, coping with anxiety and coaching with Andrew Fintoff

Taylor played 226 times for England before retiring early due to anxiety, but she has made her way back to the top

By Wisden Cricket Monthly

Sarah Taylor was stuck in traffic inching south when she got a call. She had just spent two days at Loughborough working with the England Lions wicketkeepers, taking Lancashire’s Matty Hurst and James Rew of Somerset through some drills overseen by the head coach Andrew Flintoff. The sessions had gone well. Hurst, who had personally asked if Taylor could be there having worked with her at the Manchester Hundred franchise, was especially receptive. It was Ed Barney, ECB’s performance director, on the line. Would she fancy joining them on tour in South Africa? Before she could think herself out of it, she blurted out an answer.

“Internally I was absolutely petrified,” she says. “I hadn’t flown for quite a few years. But what came out my mouth was: ‘Absolutely, when are we leaving?’ And that was the start of it.”