Taylor returns to game

FORMER England batsman James Taylor has joined the coaching team at Northamptonshire for this summer’s Royal London One-Day Cup.

Taylor’s playing career was curtailed at the age of 26 almost a year ago after he was diagnosed with a heart condition.

He has worked as a pundit on TV and radio since then but will now put his considerable prowess in the 50-over format to good use at Wantage Road, where he will assist the coaches on a consultancy basis. Taylor averaged 42.23 runs in his 27 one-day NOT SO AVERAGE: Taylor has one-day expertise internationals, the highlight of which was a match-winning hundred against Australia in 2015. His List A average of 53.11 is the fourth highest in history among those with a minimum of 50 innings. Northants head coach David Ripley said: “James has a fantastic 50-over record, averaging over 50, which is obviously outstanding. “It’s very unfortunate for James not to be playing any more but it’s great to see his desire to still be involved with the game. He THE SCOUT can offer good advice and relay his one-day experience on to our batsmen.”

Northants finished top of the North Group in last year’s competition but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Surrey.

Taylor, who played for Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, said: “I’m excited – they are a skilful side who have clearly done well in one-day cricket in the past. I am keen to offer up my expertise to the squad.

“Whilst my focus will no doubt be on the batsmen, I will be on hand to assist across all areas.”

The former Northants batsman David Sales has also returned to the county as a part-time batting coach.

ICC chief executive Dave Richardson believes the “time is right” for cricket to apply for a place at the Olympics.

Cricket has not been played at the Games since Great Britain beat France to win gold in 1900, but the ICC are now convinced an Olympic Twenty20 event is the key to growing the game beyond its traditional market – a view reinforced by the popularity of rugby sevens at Rio 2016.

Richardson said: “The time is right and we’ve come to the conclusion that the overall benefit to the game, in terms of globalising and growing it, outweighs any negatives.

“T20 is the ideal format and we’d say even better than sevens as it’s actually one of the mainstream formats of cricket.”