By John Fuller (Editor, www.cricketyorkshire.com)

Chris Taylor in action

Lightcliffe’s Director of Cricket Chris Taylor had a 2010 season to remember.
The former Yorkshire and Derbyshire batsman finished top of the JCT600 Bradford League averages for the fourth time. He became Lightcliffe’s leading run scorer in a season ever in the process for good measure, beating former Indian Test batsman Mohammad Kaif.

Predictably after a season shattering records, he has the stats to hand: “I think I got 1,432 runs to be exact! In 2005, I got over 1,500 League and Cup runs so last year was my second-best season ever in the Bradford League.”
The authority that is Wikipedia reckons 1,436 runs but either way, we’ll not quibble over four runs.

His record-breaking season won him the Margaret E Mallinson First XI Batting Averages Award in the Bradford League and he now stands 20th in the all-time run-scorers with 6,893 runs at an average of 56.04. His competition remains Mark Gilliver who works at the AllRounder Cricket store, newly-opened at Headingley for 2011, who has notched up 15,908.

Right, enough number-crunching though it serves to highlight that Taylor is an established face in the Bradford League having played nine seasons. He started in the 1st XI at Pudsey St Lawrence at 15 before three years with the Yorkshire Academy in the Yorkshire County ECB Premier League.
A successful county cricket stint with Derbyshire didn’t stop a return to his Yorkshire roots before his county retirement at the end of 2009.

His Yorkshire county career was arguably hampered by limited opportunities,

Chris Taylor missed first game

though he does have the 2001 County Championship Winner’s medal for comfort. Despite being immersed in combining the ProCoach and Allrounder Cricket operations, alongside the Yorkshire 1st XI captain and business partner Andrew Gale, Chris still aims for a full season at Lightcliffe in 2011.

He missed the first match of the new Bradford League season as he was on duty in the shop - but will be taking his place in the batting line-up for the remainder of the games. As Director of Cricket at the club, he has lofty ambitions for Lightcliffe in his second year:

“I’m really enjoying playing at Lightcliffe. Personally this year, I’d really like to score as many runs as I can but for me, it’s not the be-all and end-all anymore. I’ve got an ambition to take what is the smallest club in the Bradford League and win the First Division.”

He ruefully reflects on an opportunity missed in his first season in 2010 with promotion slipping through their fingers by the margin of one match - though three key signings might make all the difference.

Top-order batsman Alex Stead, returns to Wakefield Road after being a junior there. Another recruit from Pudsey St Lawrence is Gary Severn, whose left arm pace it is hoped will make inroads into the top-order batsmen. The final signing is Chris Greenwood, who was fourth in the 2010 bowling averages and brings his left arm spin to Undercliffe CC.

Meanwhile, Taylor has switched allegiances. No, not clubs – he jokes he is within a stone’s throw from the boundary at Lightcliffe and it was part of the marriage agreement with his father-in-law that he had to play for the Club. Instead, he’ll be wielding a new bat this time around. Having had a Rehmani bat in 2010 from Bradford-based kit supplier and agent Khalid Rehman, Chris has decided to bat using a Mongoose blade.

He’ll not be using the stubby Mongoose bats that have yet to properly fire the imagination but the classic full-length bat that Mongoose have now brought out for 2011. No doubt in recognition that it was a step too far to expect everyone to start batting with equipment that looks better suited to kayaking.

For Chris, the advent of more T20 competitions across Yorkshire might see more club players having a crack with the shortened blade. We wait to see whether Yorkshire club players embrace that T20 philosophy but wish Chris and Lightcliffe all the best for the 2011 season.
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