Claude Taylor Cricketer
Claude Hilary Taylor (6 February 1904 – 28 January 1966) was an English cricketer. Taylor was a right-handed batsman who bowled leg break googly. He was born in Leicester, Leicestershire. Taylor made his first-class debut for Leicestershire against Sussex in the 1922 County Championship, at a time when he was still being educated at Westminster School. The following year he undertook studies at Oxford University, making his first-class debut for Oxford University Cricket Club against Lancashire. He made history in this year by becoming the first freshman to score a century in The University Match, making 109 against Cambridge University. He gained his Oxford Blue in the 1923 season. Taylor went on to make 42 first-class appearances for the university, the last of which came against Cambridge University in 1926. During his time playing for Oxford, Taylor scored 2,018 runs at an average of 28.42, making 5 half centuries and 5 centuries, with a top score of 115. This score came against Sussex in 1923. As an occasional bowler, Taylor took 14 wickets at a bowling average of 34.07, with best figures of 2/9. While studying at Oxford, Taylor continued to play for Leicestershire at the end of each academical year. In 1924, when he played the second half of the season for Leicestershire, Taylor was notable for being the only Leicestershire batsman to score a century in that season, when he scored 123 against Hampshire at the County Ground, Southampton. He continued to play for Leicestershire until the end of the 1927 season, by which time he had made 45 first-class appearances for the county. In these, he had scored 1,327 runs at an average of 21.06, with three half centuries and four centuries, with his highest score being the 123 he made against Hampshire in 1924. With the ball, his occasional leg spin took 7 wickets at an average of 56.71, with best figures of 2/6. He also appeared in a single first-class match for the Free Foresters in 1927 against his former university. Taylor would appear in county cricket nearly twenty years later, appearing for Buckinghamshire after World War II, with his debut for the county coming against Dorset in the 1946 Minor Counties Championship. He made 15 further Minor Counties Championship appearances for Buckinghamshire, the last of which came against Bedforshire in 1947. On occasion he also captained Buckinghamshire. For many years he was a master at Eton School, while along with Buckinghamshire teammate and fellow Eton master David Macindoe, he was the joint-author of the book Cricket Dialogue. He died in Sherfield on Loddon, Hampshire on 28 January 1966.