Taylor wins top award

4 December 2006

Claire Taylor © Getty Images

England's Claire Taylor has been crowned Cricketer of the Year at the BBC South Sports Awards.

She beat off competition from male counterparts Shaun Udal of Hampshire and Sussex’s Mushtaq Ahmed to take the award.

The right-hander enjoyed an outstanding 2006, the highlight of which was her innings of 156 for England against India in August, the highest ever individual score in a ODI at Lord’s in men’s or women’s cricket.

Her hundred helped England to a 100-run win which set them on their way to a 4-0 series victory over India. She also hit a century in the drawn Test match at Grace Road against the same opposition.

Claire Taylor celebrates her record-breaking century at Lord's © Getty Images

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Taylor has been a regular member of the England side for several years, including the Ashes-winning side of 2005.

Also against Australia that summer she was the leading run-scorer in the NatWest Women's Series with 325 runs in five innings, including a superb 116 in the four-wicket win at Taunton.

Her other exploits include top scoring with 177 in the 2003 npower Women’s Test Series against South Africa. During this innings Taylor and Lydia Greenway broke the world record for a fourth-wicket stand in the first npower Test when they shared a 203-run partnership.

She then followed this up by hitting 131 which earned her the Vodafone Performance of the Year Award.

Taylor was one of the first ‘professional’ women cricketers, playing county cricket for Berkshire and club cricket for Reading Ridgeway.