MD Taylor

Matt Taylor made his first-class debut three after his elder brother - Jack Taylor. Someone who has the ability to swing the ball up front and trouble batsmen with his nagging lines outside off, Matt has taken more than 140 wickets since his debut that came back in 2013. After a wicket-less debut against Leicestershire, more opportunities came Taylor's way in 2014 wherein he bagged 21 wickets, but his bowling average was on the higher side - somewhere in the range of 40s. Taylor struggled due to injuries during 2015, but in 2016 he made a remarkable comeback during the NatWest T20 Blast by taking 15 wickets as Gloucestershire ended on top of the table. The same year, he also bowled a maiden over against Chris Gayle in the T20 at Taunton.

In 2017, Matt was selected by the ECB to join their pace programme along with many other top pacers in England. In July 2019, Matt Taylor took five wickets against Leicestershire at Cheltenham - a match that Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets. Few days prior to this contest, he claimed a five-wicket haul against Lancashire at the same venue. His five-for included wickets of Keaton Jennings, Rob Jones, Dane Vilas, Tom Bailey and Saqib Mahmood. In addition to the five-wicket haul, he ran out Haseeb Hameed in the same innings. Had the match not been interrupted by rain, Gloucestershire could have won it, but unfortunately with two days washed out, it ended in a draw. He's just 25-years-old at present, and with the amount of talent he's got, Matt can probably end his career with more than 300 first-class wickets.

Written by Nikhil Jadhav