Herbie Taylor

Herbie Taylor

Taylor at the Oval in 1924
Personal information
Full name	Herbert Wilfred Taylor
Born	(1889-05-05)5 May 1889 Durban, Colony of Natal
Died	8 February 1973(1973-02-08) (aged 83) Newlands, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm unknown style
Role	Batsman
Relations	Dan Taylor (brother)
International information
National side	South Africa
Test debut (cap 77)	27 May 1912 v Australia
Last Test	27 February 1932 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1909/10–1924/25	Natal
1925/26–1930/31	Transvaal
1932	MCC
1932/33–1934/35	Natal
1935/36	Western Province
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 42 206 Runs scored 2,936 13,105 Batting average 40.77 41.86 100s/50s 7/17 30/64 Top score 176 250* Balls bowled 342 1,185 Wickets 5 22 Bowling average 31.20 25.45 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 3/15 4/36 Catches/stumpings 19/– 75/–
Source: CricketArchive, 30 April 2009

Herbert Wilfred Taylor MC (5 May 1889 – 8 February 1973) was a South African cricketer who played 42 Test matches for his country including 18 as captain of the side. Specifically a batsman, he was an expert on the matting pitches which were prevalent in South Africa at the time and scored six of his seven centuries at home. His batting was also noted for quick footwork and exceptional 'backplay'.^[1] He became the first South African to pass 2,500 Test runs and was selected one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1925. In domestic cricket, he played for Natal, Transvaal and Western Province.

Taylor's greatest achievement is generally reckoned to be scoring 508 runs at an average of 50.80 in the 1913–14 Test series against England, in spite of English bowler Sydney Barnes taking a record 49 wickets in the series at 10.93. The cricket historian H.S. Altham wrote: "The English cricketers were unanimous that finer batting than his against Barnes at his best they never hoped to see." Neville Cardus noted it was "perhaps the most skilful of all Test performances by a batsman." It also led Cardus to count Taylor as "one of the six greatest batsmen of the post-Grace period".