Thomas (Tom) Taylor (18 October 1753 at Ropley,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

– April 1806 at Alresford, Hampshire) was a famous English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who played for the

Hambledon Club The Hambledon Club was a social club that is famous for its organisation of 18th century cricket matches. By the late 1770s it was the foremost cricket club in England. Foundation The origin of the club, based near Hambledon in rural Hampshire ...

. He is generally regarded as one of the most outstanding players of the 18th century. A famous all-rounder, he made his debut in 1775 and played till 1798. He played mainly for

but also made a number of appearances for Berkshire at a time when the county had a first-class team. It was said of Taylor (see Haygarth and Nyren in particular) that he was an "admirable" cover field and a strong thrower. As a batsman, he was a great hitter but "didn’t guard his wicket well enough" and had a tendency to cut at straight balls "like Beauclerk later". He was also an effective bowler and took many wickets, though we don't know what his pace was. Nyren commends Taylor on his fielding and says he was one of the best ever seen. In August 1786, Taylor and Tom Walker scored the third and fourth known first-class centuries in the same innings for

White Conduit Club The White Conduit Club (WCC) was a cricket club based on the northern fringes of London that existed from c.1782 until 1788. Although short-lived, it had considerable significance in the history of the game, as its members created the first Lord ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Bourne Paddock Bourne Paddock was a cricket ground at Bourne Park House, the seat of Sir Horatio Mann, at Bishopsbourne around south-east of Canterbury in the English county of Kent. It was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1766 to 1790. The ground ...

. Taylor made 117, his highest known career score. Thomas Taylor made 105 known first-class appearances from 1775 to 1798. Taylor was another cricketing innkeeper. He had the ''Globe Inn'' at Alresford.

References

* ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' by G B Buckley (FL18) * ''The Dawn of Cricket'' by

H T Waghorn Henry Thomas Waghorn (11 April 1842 – 30 January 1930), was a cricket statistician and historian. He is best known for his two classic researches into cricket's early history: ''The Dawn of Cricket'' and Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730 - 1773 ...

(WDC) * ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1'' by

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

(SBnnn) * ''The Glory Days of Cricket'' by

Ashley Mote Ashley Mote (25 January 1936 – 30 March 2020) was a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2004 to 2009. Elected representing the UK Independence Party, he became a non-inscrit one month into his term after ...

(GDC) * ''John Nyren's "The Cricketers of my Time"'' by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Thomas English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English cricketers of 1701 to 1786 English cricketers of 1787 to 1825 1753 births 1806 deaths People from Ropley Hambledon cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers White Conduit Club cricketers Left-Handed v Right-Handed cricketers East Kent cricketers Colonel C. Lennox's XI cricketers Hampshire and Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers