The year 2015 has been James Taylor’s, with noteworthy performances across formats underlining his importance in a dynamic England middle order
Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Dec-2015By James Taylor’s own admission, he is driven by proving people wrong. It’s not an uncommon mantra for sportsmen to have: how often has a great sporting achievement been bookended with an impassioned dig at “them”? “They said it couldn’t be done”, “they doubted me”, “but I showed them” – it’s a well-worn and thoroughly effective trick to whip oneself up into a frenzy where the achievement comes with a healthy side order of rubbing their faces in it.With Taylor, there seems more to it, for his will is not in making fools of those who barrack against him, but in showing everyone that he knows he is right. Umpire Aleem Dar felt the brunt of this during England’s opening match of the 2015 World Cup.”God, that was a shambles,” says Taylor, recalling the event. Batting with No. 11 James Anderson, as Australia rounded on a comprehensive victory, Dar adjudged that Taylor had been trapped lbw- a decision that Taylor reviewed, successfully. However, as Dar was giving his initial decision, the England pair attempted a run and Glenn Maxwell threw down the stumps with Anderson short of his ground. Despite the ball being dead upon Dar raising his finger – by which point Maxwell had not released the ball – the umpires asked for the run out to be considered and Australia were winners by 111 runs. Taylor was left stranded on 98 not out. He is still outraged about it, not least because he knew the correct rule.”I was telling them at the time and it was pretty disappointing the fact that they didn’t listen to me,” he proclaims, wearing a wry smile all the way through. “It was deeply frustrating. That could have been my first hundred: the opening game of a World Cup, at the MCG, against Australia. It doesn’t get much bigger.”As it happens, that first international hundred would come seven innings later, again in an ODI against Australia.In the third of a five-match series, on a tacky Old Trafford pitch, Taylor batted from the 10th to the final over, sussing every kink of the surface and playing accordingly for 101 off 114 balls. It was a pensive innings that some judged as laboured, but one that saw England post 300 and then Australia struggle to 207 all out in 44 overs. Once again, Taylor was right.”I knew what the situation demanded and I knew people watching would probably be questioning the way I was playing. But I was so confident that what I was doing was right. It was so satisfying that I was proved right with the end result. I knew if we got to 300, it would be enough on a deteriorating wicket. It was satisfying walking off the pitch having won by 90-runs in the end.”This was the moment of clarity for Taylor. His knock at the MCG, against the likes of Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson, showed he had the technique and character to cope with international cricket. But he realised his best asset – his ability to read a pitch or situation and play accordingly – was transferrable to the highest level.”It was huge just knowing how the way I scored those runs is exactly how I’d do it in county cricket. You’ve got to be able to read the situation and play accordingly. I know a lot of people would have done things differently. But I was just really happy that I wanted to play that way, I backed myself and it was proved right.”It was this skill that England wanted with them in the UAE. When called upon for the final Test in Sharjah, as a replacement for Jos Buttler, he marked his return after a three-year absence with 76, top-scoring in England’s innings with no one else passing fifty. Pakistan won the Test by 127 runs and the series 2-0 and England were left ruing, among many things, not getting him in sooner.Taylor’s 76 against Pakistan in his first Test innings in three years was one of the few bright sparks for England during the three-Test series against Pakistan in UAE•Getty ImagesAs such, he finds himself on the tour to South Africa as the incumbent of that No.5 spot, which he hopes is his to lose. And while he knows the No.1-ranked Test side, in their own conditions, present the sternest opposition this new, vibrant England have faced, he’s more than aware of his own business with South Africa and admits “it would be quite fitting” to excel against them. It was at the end of the last series between the two, on English soil in 2012, that Taylor was drafted into the side for the final two Tests.”Now I’m three and a half years more experienced and got plenty more international games under my belt, have scored international runs and scored runs at domestic level as well. I’m in a far better place now.”Unfortunately for Taylor, that 2012 series saw him caught in the crossfire of a bitter dispute between Kevin Pietersen and the ECB. As Pietersen writes in his autobiography, he had a private conversation with Andy Flower in which he offered his opinion that Taylor was unsuited to international cricket, based on his height. Taylor says he was not fussed then and is even less fussed now and certainly does not feel the incident is to blame for his three-year absence from Test cricket.”Everybody’s entitled to their opinions, but I was happy then. It didn’t even bother me and I was a 21-year-old playing one Test with plenty of experienced players. It was frustrating not playing Test cricket in the last three years. People say it might have contributed to it, but it might not have. I don’t know. It’s pie in the sky. It doesn’t really matter.”It was a frustrating few years, but maybe those frustrating few years have helped me become the player I am now and be the person I am now. Maybe that gave me the massive kick up the backside that has pushed me where I am now.”The desire to make up for lost time is clear. As is the desire to take the game to a South Africa side who have come off the back of a demoralising 3-0 series defeat in India. While Dale Steyn’s fitness for the opening Test at Durban on Boxing Day is touch and go, Vernon Philander has officially been ruled out of the first two matches. A big blow for South Africa, particularly given Philander’s record at Cape Town – 31 wickets at an average of 19.33 – the venue of the second Test.”South Africa have obviously come back from a tough tour of India, which you could say is the perfect time to play them. But they are the best team in the world on paper at the minute, so it is going to be a good test. It’s exciting: we’re in a really good place as a side and got plenty of exciting faces that have got a lot to prove. I think if you look how we did in the UAE, while the results didn’t suggest it, I think we played far better cricket.””It’s a good time to play anybody because of the way we are as a side: we’re an exciting side and every time we step onto the field we’re improving.”For Taylor, who has spent the last three years with the unwavering belief that he is good enough to play Test cricket, South Africa away presents him with another chance to prove that he was right.