Jerome Taylor deserves some recognition

Though he has received almost no publicity, Jerome Taylor has quietly been one of the games best fast bowlers this year, taking 26 Test match wickets at an average of 23.34 and a strike rate of 44.2.

To put his numbers into perspective, 23 fast bowlers have taken a minimum of 10 Test match wickets this year. Of those 23, Taylor's average is fifth best, behind only Steyn, Finn, Anderson and Hazlewood. His strike rate is third best - only Mitchell Marsh (38.4) and Steven Finn (39.0) have been better.

What should give West Indies some cause for optimism is how well Taylor bowled against Australia in the summer. In the two-match series, Taylor finished with 8 wickets at an average of 20.62 and a strike rate of 43.5. His standout performance came in the fist innings at Sabina Park when he finished with figures of 6/47. These numbers are even more impressive when you take into consideration Australia posted a first innings score of 399.

Just for some fun; numbers across all three formats of the game (Test, ODI and T20) this year:

Jerome Taylor: 46 wickets at an average of 25.89 and a strike rate of 36.0
Dale Steyn: 43 wickets at an average of 25.81 and a strike rate of 36.6.
Mitchell Johnson: 48 wickets at an average of 28.45 and a strike rate of 41.9.
Tim Southee: 45 wickets at an average of 40.28 and a strike rate of 55.0

I just dont know why they saved him from the Warm Up !

Nice stats. Fidel and Taylor are both short, which is probably why they keep getting overlooked (snicker) by the wider cricket world.

But there was a lot of praise on this forum for Taylor during the AUS and ENG tours. Taylor was awesome in Jamaica in particular.

On the recent SL tour, Taylor picked up six wickets in 3 innings. That's not very good. But that's because we played 4 fast bowlers and one spinner on a spinning wicket. When we finally played 2 spinners (Warrican and Bishoo) in the second test, we limited SL to 200 runs in each inning. That should be an easy win, but of course we can't bat vs spin either and Herath cleaned us out.

Jason Holder actually has a very good economy rate (about 2.5, slowly going down), and he troubles good batsmen, but he doesn't take enough wickets. He's a first change bowler. He's the guy you send in while your frontline attack is resting.

Fidel and Taylor bowling in tandem might be a good idea. Mostly I wish WI would try experimenting with twin spinners. Bishoo and Permaul together might be interesting, and they can both bat better than the top order.

The fact is throughout his career he has been abysmally inconsistent and his numbers tell the story well.