Brilliant Taylor enters the record books

Date: Saturday 29 August 2009

James Taylor has become the first teenager to score 1,000 Championship runs in the long and distinguished history of Leicestershire CCC.

After making his 29th run of the 62 he registered today at Chelmsford against Essex, the batsman passed the milestone to become the youngest ever scorer of 1,000 Championship runs which had been previously held by Ian Butcher.

He also became the second youngest batsman in the club’s history to score 1,000 runs in first-class cricket, as Les Berry achieved that landmark in the season shortly after his 19th birthday in 1925.

Unfortunately for Berry, although he amassed 1,071 first-class runs that year, he finished on an agonising 999 Championship runs.

Burrough-on-the-Hill born Taylor was never in danger of missing out on his 1,000, and he passed the magic four-figures in his twentieth innings with three games in the locker - all despite missing the first fixture of the season against Northants.

Taylor was delighted to achieve the feat – but said the most important thing about the innings today was that he helped the side to save the game at Chelmsford.

He said: “It’s great – I couldn’t have imagined it at the beginning of the season. I didn’t play in the first Championship game but I took my opportunity at Southgate and it’s all gone from there. To get it with three games to go is a bonus and I now want to continue scoring as many as I can.

“I’m naturally delighted to break that record for Leicestershire, but it isn’t about the milestones at the minute. For me, it’s purely about batting for as long as I can. When I retire – which is hopefully a long way off! – I will look back and enjoy it, but the most important thing today was that we drew the game.”

Taylor, who is made for these gritty situations, formed an outstanding stand of 129 with skipper Boeta Dippenaar as the team saved the match. The youngster felt that partnerships were always going to be the key to saving the game

“I relish the added pressure of this type of situations and have been there before this season (at Southgate and at home to Derbyshire). Dipps (Boeta Dippenaar) and Jigar (Naik) started well and then we knew we had to knuckle down and see off the threat – particularly from Danish Kaneria.

“It was turning out there and he’s a great bowler. I was disappointed to get out, but we still had Newy (Tom New) and Benno (James Benning) to bat out with Dipps, who played really well all day. It’s a good outcome for the team and hopefully we can end the season with a couple of wins now.”

Taylor's history-making joins a list of outstanding Leicestershire batsmen – including the brilliant Berry, who achieved so much during his long and distinguished career at the club.

Berry's achievements in 1925 were certainly excellent, and it is very difficult to compare his era with the current one played in by Taylor.

However, it is worth noting that those runs came at a time when more matches were played, and the batsman had 52 first-class innings in first-class competitions that season, averaging 21.42 with a best of 87.

So, when you consider that Taylor has made 1,033 Championship runs in 20 innings to date at an average of 68.66 with a stunning best of 207*, you can see how well the teen has played this season.

What is remarkable about the statistics is that of the four previous youngest batsmen to achieve the feat, three – including current Senior Coach Tim Boon – did it in 1984.

Taylor, who was born on January 6, 1990, passed the record set by Butcher, who made his Championship thousand in 1984 at the age of 22 yrs 2 months when he scored 20 on 8th September 1984.

Next in the list comes Berry (22 yrs 3 months) and James Whitaker (22 yrs 4 months), in 1928 and 1984 respectively. Then comes current Senior Coach Boon, who was also 22 when he scored his first thousand in 1984.

Taylor is clearly in great company to be alongside the likes of Berry, Butcher, Whitaker and Boon.

As well as the 1,000 runs he scored in 1925, Surrey-born Berry, who moved to Market Harborough at the age of eight, passed the 1,000 run mark in every English first-class cricket season played from 1928 to 1950 – which totalled seventeen in all minus the War years.

He also set the highest amount of runs for a season, scoring 2,446 runs at an average of more than 50 in 1937.

Ironically, his first century, against Worcestershire at Ashby in 1928, was a score of 207 – the exact same score as Taylor’s first double-hundred for the club at Surrey earlier this month.

By the time Berry had retired, he had amassed 45 first-class centuries for County - which remains the county record to this day.

He also holds the county record for most first-class runs in the club’s history with 30,143 in 1,050 innings at an average of 30.42. His seven first-class hundreds in 1937 have been equalled for Leicestershire by Willie Watson and Brian Davison, but never bettered.

Talking of something never being bettered, it is going to take an outstanding season from somebody if they are to ever break Taylor's record. 'Titch' has quite simply been a joy to watch, and everyone at Leicestershire CCC offers our congratulations to him.

* Dan Nice would like to place on record his thanks to club archivist Richard Holdridge for helping with the statistics for this piece.