England coach Trevor Bayliss has hinted that wicket-keeper Jos Buttler will make way for the deciding test against Pakistan which starts in Sharjah on Sunday. In all likelihood Moeen Ali will keep his place at the top of the order, meaning that Jonny Bairstow will keep wicket and the diminutive James Taylor will slot into the middle order.
Taylor made his Test Match debut in 2012, playing two Tests against a top-notch South African pace attack. His first innings, a solid 34 that supported Kevin Pietersen in full flow at Headingley, earned widespread praise at the time for the composure shown by the 22-year-old debutant. But the comments revealed subsequently in Kevin Pietersen’s controversial autobiography are the points which are perhaps more memorable.
In short, according to Pietersen, Taylor is too short to play for England.
Now, whilst Taylor is indeed somewhat vertically challenged at 5ft 6, he’s by no means alone at that kind of height. Sachin Tendulkar (remember him?) was around the same height as Taylor, possibly even a fraction shorter, but despite this he still managed to score almost 16,000 Test runs at an average of nearly 54. Brian Lara, scorer of two of Test cricket’s three highest scores, measured a shade under 5ft 7; Aravinda de Silva was another short man who made a big impact on the game; and being 5ft 7 doesn’t stop David Warner blazing away furiously at the top of the Australian order.
Taylor is almost a foot shorter than Pietersen, which gives them a different technical perspective on batting. Whereas Pietersen regularly used his 6ft 5 frame to reach a long way forward and make good length balls into half-volleys, the exact same delivery is likely to give Taylor an opportunity to rock onto the back foot. From there, he has the chance to defend, pull, cut or drive off the back foot depending on the line of the ball.
Indeed, on his return to the England one-day side in Sri Lanka in the winter of 2014, Taylor frequently went back to deliveries which would have been good length balls to many other batsmen and pulled them through the leg side to the fence.
To counter this, bowlers have to adjust their natural length, pitching the ball up further. This throws up the opportunity of half-volleys for the shorter player and, given shorter players tend to be able to be lighter on their feet than taller players, they are often able to pounce on such errors in length. In amongst this, the ability to rotate the strike on a regular basis causes more problems for the bowler if the batsman at the other end is taller and the bowler has to adjust their length again.
In the case of Taylor, the main thing he can do to counter any criticism of his height is say “look at my record”. His first-class average stands at a healthy 47.20, having scored over 9,000 runs. Not bad for a 25-year-old. Consider too that he’s spent the last four seasons playing his home games for Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, widely regarded as a pace bowler’s paradise given the lavish swing often on display, and these figures start to look even more impressive.
His List A average for performances in one-day cricket is even better: 5,100 runs at 52.04. And since his return to the England one-day team at the end of 2014 he’s scored 712 runs at 41.88, including 90 against the Sri Lankans in their own backyard and his maiden international ton, 101 against Australia at Old Trafford a month and a half ago. Not bad for a short lad.
All of this brings us back to where we started. Does size matter? The answer is surely no. As with all things where batting is concerned, technique and temperament are the key ingredients which determine whether a batsman will be successful or not. Height, or lack thereof, is simply a relative quality which will give a different perspective on the technical response a batsman needs to deal with any given delivery.
For Pietersen, that response might have been to reach forward and crunch balls off the front foot. For Taylor, it might be to rock back and carve through the offside or pull through the legside. Neither route is necessarily preferable to the other, they are just different options available to players of different heights, but both aim to give the same end result.
Time will tell whether Taylor has the technique and temperament to be a success for England on the international stage. His performance in the second warm-up gain recently against Pakistan A stood out as he scored 61 whilst the other England batsmen faltered. If he gets his chance in the Test side at the weekend, let’s hope he’s given an extended run this time so he can be judged on his performances this time, rather than on his height.
