Bob Taylor      

Full name Robert William Taylor

Born July 17, 1941, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

Current age 68 years 115 days

Major teams England, Derbyshire

Nickname Chat

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium

Fielding position Wicketkeeper

Among the few undisputed blessings of the Packer revolution was that it gave Bob Taylor the Test career he had almost given up hope of having. An uncomplaining understudy for almost a decade, Taylor's only cap before Alan Knott joined World Series Cricket was in New Zealand in 1970-71. Knott was fit and keen to play, but this was skipper Ray Illingworth's way of rewarding Taylor's loyalty and patience. Taylor was known as "Chat" by team-mates grateful for his willingness to talk, and often listen at length, to people he had never seen before and would never see again in tour receptions. He went on to play another 56 Tests, confirming that in wicketkeeping skills he lost nothing by comparison with Knott. As a batsman he was no more than a dogged little sticker. But it said everything about his sportsmanship that, at Adelaide in 1978-79, he walked for a tiny leg-side tickle when he was three short of what would have been his only England hundred.
John Thicknesse October 2004

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1977

1986

Bob Taylor

© Getty Images

Jan 3, 1982

Bob Taylor appeals for an lbw verdict against Syed Kirmani

© Getty Images

Feb 1972

Ross Duncan caught by Bob Taylor for 0 off Tony Greig

© The Cricketer International

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