IT is 10 years to the day that former England cricketer James Taylor was forced into early retirement at after being taken ill before a Nottinghamshire game against Cambridge University.
Taylor, who was just 26 at the time, had played seven test matches for England and 27 ODIs before his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with a heart condition called ARVC.
When speaking to the BBC, Taylor claimed he, “Should have died on the journey to the hospital.”
Taylor, who was a middle-order-batsman, had cemented his place in the England test side in the winter against South Africa but was told that what his heart went through was equivalent to running five or six marathons and his retirement was announced six days after the incident.
“I had a round table with a load of cricket media and journalists and they mentioned all my hard work, graft and what it took to finally cement my place in an England team and honestly, I just burst out crying in front of them all.” Taylor said.
Prior to his retirement, Taylor became a scratch golfer after just three years and was an England selector between 2018 and 2022 in which England became the number one white-ball team in the World and won the World Cup in 2019.
Taylor has also worked as a commentator for Sky Sports and Test Match Special on the BBC.
He made two test 50s and averaged 42 in ODIs with his first and only international century coming against Australia at the back end of the 2015 summer.
