Joy of six lifts banned Taylor
JACK Taylor is hoping an enforced break from bowling will help him achieve a longstanding ambition to be a genuine all-rounder in Gloucestershire’s County Championship side.
The 24-year-old is currently suspended from sending down his off-spinners, having been reported for an illegal action after taking 14 wickets in the first seven four-day games this season.
Taylor suffered a similar setback in 2013, but worked hard to remodel his action. Now he is determined to be positive about a second ban and concentrate on improving his batting, while doing the necessary work to satisfy the ECB testing procedure as a bowler.
Selected as No.6 batsman for the Championship clash with Leicestershire at Cheltenham, Taylor responded with top score of 51, off 64 balls, with six fours, as his side were bowled out for 183 on a seaming pitch that saw 15 wickets fall on day one.
Already established as a destructive oneday batsman capable of regularly clearing the ropes, it was just the sort of innings to suggest he can also become an accomplished performer in the longer format.
Taylor said: “I have to adapt for Championship cricket and, while I still look to strike the ball, there is plenty more time for me to build an innings. I am in the team as a batsman and the only way I can hope to stay in is by making a lot of runs.
“It has always been a goal of mine to end up as a No.5 or No.6 batsman.”
As far as his bowling is concerned, Taylor is again putting in the hours required to adjust his technique and is confident of returning to the Gloucestershire attack next season, if not before.
He said: “I have been doing a lot of hard work to get my action right and I’d like to think I could be back bowling again this year.
“I will have to do a re-test at Loughborough, but that is still some way off and there is more work to do over the coming weeks.
“It is a similar problem to the one I had before, but I am putting in a lot of time with head coach Richard Dawson to rectify things.
“It’s frustrating to have to go through this for a second time, but I want to look at things positively. Who knows? By next season I could be batting at six and bowling again.”
Of his innings against Leicestershire, Taylor added: “It was tough because they bowled really well and got their rewards.
“The ball was doing a bit off the pitch and in the air, so it was a case of grinding out the good balls and cashing in on the bad ones.”
Leicestershire’s first day hero was Ben Raine, who led an impressive attack with figures of 4-57 from 14 overs.
Raine added a useful 33 not out on the second morning as his side grabbed a first innings lead of 35 and said: “It’s actually a very good pitch.
“Both sides have bowled well on it. We have been putting the ball in the right areas this season without always getting our rewards.
“This time things went our way and that was overdue.”