Jerome Taylor

Jerome Taylor Player Profile

When at his best, fast bowler Jerome Taylor was a natural at getting the ball to move away, and he put some in mind of Michael Holding. But Taylor's was an injury-ridden career that fetched him 130 wickets over 46 Tests for West Indies in fits and starts across 13 years.

He made a dreadful start, at just 18, against Sri Lanka in two home Tests in 2003, less than two months after West Indies' legendary chase of 418 against Australia in St John's. He averaged 97 for his two wickets in that series. That debut came on the back of being named the most promising fast bowler in the 2003 Carib Beer Series, where he picked up 21 wickets at 20 in six matches, including a second-innings 8 for 59 in Jamaica's five-wicket victory over Trinidad and Tobago. But a back injury then sidelined him from competitive cricket.

Coming back in 2006 against India, off another successful spell in domestic cricket, he was a changed bowler, taking 9 for 95 - his career best - albeit on a spiteful Kingston pitch and in a loss. He and Corey Collymore took 29 wickets between them in the three matches but India got the better of the home side for their first series win there in 35 years. In his next series, on the flat wickets of Pakistan, Taylor ably shouldered the load alongside Collymore, taking 13 wickets in three Tests over 130 draining overs in another series loss.

That was also Taylor's most successful season in ODIs - he took 32 wickets in 23 matches, 13 of those in the Champions Trophy in India, where West Indies made the final and lost to Australia, against whom Taylor had taken a hat-trick in a win earlier in the tournament. The home ODI World Cup in 2007 was forgettable for Taylor as for many cricket fans worldwide. His best performance in ICC events came eight years later, in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where he was a model of consistency, taking three wickets each in five games - including the quarter-final in Wellington against New Zealand, where West Indies were knocked out. He was also part of the World Cup-winning West Indies T20 side of 2016.

Taylor's first tour of England, in 2007, was forgettable, but he made amends when that team came visiting early in 2009, ripping through them in Kingston in the first Test, where he finished with 5 for 11 after two hours of mayhem in which the visitors were eviscerated for 51. In 2008, he blitzed a Test century at just over a run a ball, from No. 8, against New Zealand and was named Jamaica's Cricketer of the Year.

Over about five years, between 2010 and 2014, Taylor was able to play about 12 white-ball internationals, largely due to injury, and had his commitment questioned by the West Indies board. He eventually regained his place in the team for a tour of India in 2014 - though the players abandoned that series due to a payment dispute with the board.

In the CPL, Taylor started his career with Jamaica Tallawahs in 2014, and moved to St Lucia Zouks in 2016, when he took 13 wickets from eight games as Zouks reached the playoffs. He took 36 wickets in two T20 Blast seasons for Somerset, who made it to the semi-finals in 2018 thanks partly to Taylor's 22 wickets in 11 games.