Stafanie Taylor

Stafanie Taylor was born to play cricket. And if she wouldn't have, our sport would have been poorer. She is a genuine allrounder who bats in the top-order and bowls terrific off-spin.

At primary school, Taylor first played football and then netball. She went on her first cricket tour at the age of just 10. For a period of time, Taylor played both football and cricket and eventually chose the latter as it gave her more opportunities to travel around the world.

In 2008, she started her career at the age of 17 against Ireland. In a debut innings to remember, she smashed 90 in just 49 balls and since then, has never looked back.

In 2011, she was named as the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year - the first West Indian to win the award.

As her career ticked along, she kept on breaking records. She was the fastest to score 1000 runs in Women's cricket and in the 2013 World Cup, she clobbered Sri Lankan bowlers all around the park to notch up an unprecedented score of 171. In the same year, she became the first cricketer in the history of the game to be ranked as the No. 1 allrounder and No.1 batter at the same time in the ICC rankings.

There wasn't any dearth of individual records in her career but her individual brilliance hasn't resulted in any team silverware for Windies till 2016. That changed in the 2016 T20 World Cup where Stefanie was simply outstanding. She was the highest scorer in the tournament and in the final against three-time World Champions, Australia, she unleashed her A+ game, scoring an impressing 59 and steering her country to glory. She was named as the player of the tournament for her outstanding all-round performance.

In 2018, she was awarded a women's contract and later in that year, she was named as the captain of the West Indies' squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 at home. In 2021, Taylor became just the second bowler for West Indies to take a hat-trick in WT20Is.

Written by Varun Dixit