Former England wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Taylor is all set to play for the Northern Diamonds and she will make her debut on Saturday at Emerald Headingley as well.
However, she has come out of her retirement and will take part in the inaugural edition of The Hundred where she will play for Welsh Fire. Meanwhile, she will go straight into the team as Lauren Winfield-Hill is away on national duty and Bess Heath is injured as well.
Sarah Taylor is known for her excellent glove-work and she still holds the records for the most stumpings in T20Is and ODIs with 51 in each format of the game. Even, she has over 4,000 runs in ODIs in her name, including seven hundreds and 20 fifties also.
However, Northern Diamonds’ newest recruit has added: “Dani (Hazell) gave me a call and told me that Lauren (Winfield-Hill) was going off with England and Bess (Heath) is injured so they were after a keeper, and it’s good for me to play in a good competition in preparation for my Hundred stint. It’s kind of a win-win for everyone really, but it was really nice of Dani to think of me.
“It’s going to be a good test for me. I might be a little bit rusty but part of the reason for me playing is to get rid of that. Hopefully, I will perform well and can carry on where I left off. If I don’t then it’s okay, it’s just me getting back into the swing of things and remembering what it’s like to keep for 50 overs. I know the Diamonds squad is a good one and I’m looking forward to joining them at training tomorrow,” further added Sarah Taylor.
On the other hand, Northern Diamonds have started quite well with two wins and a loss. However, this tournament has certainly displayed progress in the women’s game in the country.
“You look at the games that have happened so far in the competition and you can really see the development of the women’s game,” said Sarah Taylor. “We’re playing on good pitches at good grounds and that is testament to the way the standard is going. Every year it is getting better and better. I’ve got a couple of years to catch up. Hopefully I can do that and we can go well.”
“I have played at Headingley before, it’s a great ground and I’ve loved playing there in the past when we’ve had the chance. Playing against the South East Stars, there’s a student of mine from my school playing for them so that will be good fun,” she again shared.
However, the swashbuckling wicketkeeper had last played for the country in 2019 but she returned to the game in the last year. At first, she took a coaching job with Sussex CCC and then signed to play in The Hundred as well.
While talking about these opportunities, Sarah Taylor said: “I had to take some time out of the game to gain a little bit of perspective on it, but after everything had settled down, life got back to normal. It was nice to then have the opportunity to look at the game and throw myself into it. Once the opportunity came around with Sussex and then the Welsh Fire, it was a really easy decision to come back. Now with the Northern Diamonds, I think I’d be stupid to turn these opportunities down.”
