Chris Taylor Introduction

My name is Chris Taylor, I’m a right handed top order batsman, and play first-class Cricket for Yorkshire CCC. I have been a Professional Cricketer for seven years now, five with Yorkshire, then I signed for Derbyshire for two years, and now I have re-signed with Yorkshire again on a 3 year contract. I also co-own a cricket coaching business called ‘Pro Coach Cricket Academy’. Our websites are www.procricketcoachingacademy.com and www.procoachcricketacademy.com.uk

I started playing cricket at four years old for Pudsey St Lawrence in the Bradford League in Yorkshire. I rose up through the Yorkshire ranks from under 10s and signed as a professional at the age of 18. My first spell at Yorkshire was frustrating as I spent a lot of time in the second XI due to International batsmen holding up a spot in the first XI. However I managed to score two double centuries and over 20 centuries in five years in second XI cricket. I played approximately 20 games for Yorkshire first team before I decided I had to leave the club to further my career.

I signed for Derbyshire for the 2006 season. It was a great move as I played every game batting at number three. I managed to score three first class centuries in my first four games with Derbyshire and achieved the record of being the only Derbyshire player in the history of the club to score a first-class century and a one-day century on debut. The one-day debut was particularly sweet as I scored a match winning hundred against Yorkshire (the very team I hadn’t been picked for first-class cricket). I finished my first season as one-day player of the year and finished second in the one day runscorers throughout the country just behind Darren Lehmann.

My second season at Derbyshire didn’t go as well. A combination of a bad back injury and the signing of three Kolpak batsmen meant I wasn’t picked in the team (after I had been player of the year only the year before), so I decided to leave the club. I had some good offers, but when Martyn Moxon rang me, asking me if I would like to return to Yorkshire, it signalled a second chance to become a firsts team regular at the county I had dreamt of playing for as a child. My home county.

Currently we are in pre-season training with Yorkshire. It consists of four days a week fitness training and one day of specialist batting training. I am flying out to India on the 11th of February for a week long batting clinic in Mohali with the other batsmen from the squad. It is something I am really looking forward to, as I spent 10 days in Mumbai last Winter and it really helped me develop my play against spin.

Away from Professional Cricket, I co-own a cricket coaching business with my fellow Yorkshire player and best mate Andrew Gale. We have just merged our two businesses, the one I ran in Derbyshire and he ran one in Yorkshire. Our Academy is targeted at the children who have been knocked back by County Junior teams and young cricketers aspiring to improve their game. I have a real passion for cricket coaching and believe I can and should contribute something back to the game that has given me so much. My philosophy on coaching is pretty simple, let the children enjoy it, let them play their natural game (don’t try to turn them in to coaching manual robots) and always try to build up a young cricketers’ confidence. Young Cricketers will get nowhere without confidence in their own ability.

Our coaching has various centres around Yorkshire and Derbyshire (Leeds, Huddersfield, Hull, Sheffield, Yorkshire Dales, Harrogate, York, Derby and many more). We run what we call a Premier Academy at each of these centres which is for any young cricketers who want expert coaching advice. I must also note that all our coaches are highly qualified and are current professional cricketers. We also have an Elite Academy which is for the cream of the crop, children who really want to go much further in the game. If anyone wants anymore information please visit www.procricketcoachingacademy.com.

To make my life even busier, myself and Andrew have invented a cricket coaching bat. It is called the ‘Play in the V cricket bat’ www.playinthevcricketbats.com. It is a 4cm wide bat (very thin) and comes with golf size tennis balls. The aim is to hit the small ball with the thin bat. It is difficult, but it makes any cricketer watch the ball right onto the bat (a fault that people don’t do all the time). Also, if you don’t play straight (or in the V), you will miss the ball. We use the cricket bats all the time at our cricket coaching clinics and many professional cricketers, including Test players, are currently using them around the country. If you would like more information or would like to purchase a bat, please view the website link above. We believe the bats can seriously help batsmen to improve their batting and myself and Andrew both use them.

Anyway, I hope the Cricket Web viewers have got a clear picture of my background and what I’m about, thank you for your time,

Chris Taylor.