The Time Sarah Taylor Made Me Want the Gloves

A reflection on the keeper who made wicketkeeping look like the coolest job in cricket.

17.03.2026

Watching great players often brings back old memories.

Recently, seeing the career of Alyssa Healy being celebrated reminded me of another wicketkeeper who left a huge impression on me growing up: Sarah Taylor.

Healy has been one of the defining wicketkeeper-batters of her era, and for many years discussions about the best keeper in women’s cricket often involved two names: Healy and Taylor. Seeing people reflect on Healy’s career recently took me back to the period when I first started watching women’s cricket.

And when I think back to that time, there were two players who completely pulled me in.

If you’ve followed this blog or my Instagram page for a while, you’ll already know that Ellyse Perry is my cricketing hero. I’ve written about her before. I admire the way she works, the way she carries herself, and what she represents in the sport.

But what you might not know is that when I first discovered women’s cricket, there were actually two players who immediately stood out.

One was Perry.

The other was Sarah Taylor.

Looking back now, that always feels slightly unexpected. Perry made sense. I related to her. When I was younger I opened the bowling and tried to play as an all-rounder. My batting needed work, but the role felt familiar. Watching Perry progress through her career was incredibly motivating for someone trying to improve their own game.

Sarah Taylor, on the other hand, was a wicketkeeper-batter.

And I wasn’t a wicketkeeper at all.

In fact, when I was playing junior cricket I was usually opening the bowling against the boys and taking a few wickets along the way. Wicketkeeping wasn’t something I ever imagined myself doing.

But the moment you watched Sarah Taylor play, something about it just clicked.

Behind the stumps she looked like she was having the time of her life. She carried this huge smile on her face and brought constant energy to the field. If music was playing around the ground you might see her nodding along to it. She just looked like she loved every second of being out there.'

That kind of energy is infectious.

You could feel it even through the television.

And then there was the way she played the game. Taylor was innovative with the bat in a way that stood out at the time. Reverse sweeps, paddles, creative shots behind square, she wasn’t afraid to try things. Her technique had its own character as well. It wasn’t textbook in the traditional sense, but it worked brilliantly for her.

She played the game with freedom.

But as good as she was with the bat, it was her wicketkeeping that really made people stop and watch.

Taylor was lightning behind the stumps. Her footwork was sharp, her hands incredibly soft, and her anticipation seemed a step ahead of everyone else. She regularly stood up to the stumps even when seamers were bowling, something that demands immense skill and courage.

And she made it all look effortless.

That’s part of the reason she earned so much respect across the cricket world. Great wicketkeepers from the men’s game; people like Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara and Jos Buttler have all spoken about how highly they rated her keeping. When discussions about the best pure wicketkeepers in the game came up, Taylor’s name was always part of the conversation.

And when you watched her, you understood why.

There are so many moments that still stand out. One that always comes to mind is a remarkable catch she took off the bowling of Danielle Hazell. The batter tried to paddle the ball behind square, and Taylor had to move sharply across to her right. She barely had time to react, yet somehow managed a full-length dive and held onto the ball. It was one of those instinctive moments that showed just how quick she was.

Another memory is her stumping of Trisha Chetty during the 2017 World Cup — a blink-and-you-miss-it piece of work that reminded everyone how fast her hands really were.

Moments like that happened regularly.

Sarah Taylor's lightning hands down the leg side caught Trisha Chetty out of her crease

Taylor had a highlight reel full of them.

Ironically, because she was so exceptional behind the stumps, her batting sometimes went slightly under the radar. But she was an outstanding batter as well. During the 2017 Women’s World Cup, which England won at Lord’s, she played a major role with the bat and finished among the leading run scorers. She finished 4th overall with 396 runs and 2nd highest for England behind the Number 1 Tammy Beaumont, who scored 410 runs, with Mithali Raj and Ellyse Perry separating them at 2 (409) and 3 (404), respectfully.

Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Taylor added 275 off 209 balls

Still, for me, one of my favourite memories involving Sarah Taylor came during a completely different moment.

It was during the 2017–18 Women’s Ashes Test at North Sydney Oval. Perry was batting and closing in on a double century. When she reached 194, she lofted a shot over midwicket that the crowd immediately thought had cleared the boundary. People started celebrating, assuming it was the six that would bring up her 200.

Perry celebrated too.

But after the umpires checked the replay, it turned out the ball had landed just short and bounced into the rope. It was only four.

During that pause while everyone waited for the decision, the cameras caught Perry and Sarah Taylor chatting and laughing together.

It was a small moment, but it stuck with me.

Here were two players I admired enormously, sharing a light-hearted exchange in the middle of a historic moment. It summed up something I always associated with Taylor: joy. She seemed to bring that feeling onto the field wherever she played.

And that joy had an unexpected effect on me.

Even though I was doing well as a fast bowler at the time, watching Sarah Taylor made me want to try wicketkeeping. I actually asked my dad to get me a pair of wicketkeeping gloves because I wanted to give it a go.

Unfortunately, nobody around me thought it was a good idea.

Because I was opening the bowling, there was always concern that keeping wicket might lead to an injury that would stop me bowling. So the answer was usually the same: stick to bowling.

In the end, I picked up an injury anyway, so the plan didn’t exactly work out.

But the point is that Sarah Taylor made wicketkeeping look so enjoyable, so exciting, that it made someone who had never even considered the role suddenly want the gloves.

And that says a lot about the kind of player she was.

Taylor played the game with skill, creativity and enthusiasm. She showed how demanding and rewarding wicketkeeping can be, and she did it with a smile that never seemed to disappear.

For young fans watching at the time, that mattered.

Because sometimes the players who inspire you the most aren’t the ones who play your position.

Sometimes they’re the ones who make you want to try something completely different.

I never actually became a wicketkeeper.

But for a while, because of Sarah Taylor, I really wanted the gloves.

And if you ever watch her highlights behind the stumps, you’ll probably understand exactly why.