Robert William Taylor MBE (born 17 July 1941) is an English former cricketer who played as wicket-keeper for Derbyshire between 1961 and 1984 and for England between 1971 and 1984. He made 57 Test, and 639 first-class cricket appearances in total, taking 1,473 catches. The 2,069 victims across his entire career is the most of any wicket-keeper in first-class history. He is considered one of the world's most accomplished wicket-keepers. He made his first-class debut for Minor Counties against South Africa in 1960, having made his Staffordshire debut in 1958. He became Derbyshire's first choice wicket-keeper when George Dawkes sustained a career-ending injury. His final First Class appearance was at the Scarborough Festival in 1988. He remained first choice until his retirement except for a short period in 1964 when Laurie Johnson was tried as a batsman-wicketkeeper. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup.
Taylor made his Test debut in 1971 in New Zealand at the end of the successful Ashes winning tour. Though highly regarded, Taylor was unable to displace incumbent Alan Knott, a talented keeper and a superior batsman. It was only when Knott joined World Series Cricket in 1977 that Taylor appeared in more Tests and was selected as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1977. He continued to be England's choice keeper through the 1970s, falling three short of a maiden Test century in the 1978–79 Ashes, and retiring from Tests in 1984 – though he would make an emergency appearance for a day of Test cricket in 1986 – and all first-class cricket in 1988.
Taylor was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He began cricketing early, keeping wicket in a car park next to Stoke City Football Club's home ground, before playing for his schools Under-15 XI aged 12. He also was on the books of Port Vale F.C. as an apprentice, though he never played football professionally. At 15 years he played for Bignall End Cricket Club in the North Staffordshire and District League and for Staffordshire in the Minor Counties cricket league. On his debut he was confused for a spectator because of his youth. He continued playing for Staffordshire from 1958 to 1960, whereupon he moved to Derbyshire and joined the Second XI of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
Taylor played in 639 first-class matches. His 1,649 dismissals (1,473 caught, 176 stumped) in 639 games remains a first-class record. With the bat, Taylor averaged only 16.92, and he is one of only two players to have passed 10,000 first-class runs without scoring a century though he subsequently scored exactly 100 against Yorkshire at Sheffield in 1981, his only first-class century. He also took one first-class wicket as a bowler.
He played his debut first-class match against South Africa on 1 June 1960, appearing as keeper for a Minor Counties XI. He scored 11 and a duck and did not take any catches behind the stumps. Thanks largely to recommendations by Cliff Gladwin, he went on to make his County Championship and Derbyshire debut on 7 June the follow year, scoring another duck and eight as well as taking two catches as Derbyshire drew with Sussex at the County Ground, Derby. His first victim was Sussex's Ken Suttle, yet several players observed that he had much to learn; many bowlers condemned him for standing up to the stumps and missing edges. Taylor would go on to play 17 matches in his debut 1961 season for his county, scoring 20 runs at 11.38 with a best of 48, taking 47 catches and 6 stumpings behind the wicket. 29 more games followed in 1960, however his batting remained unimpressive, scoring 300 runs at 10.71 with a best of 44. He remained dependable behind the stumps, with 77 catches and three stumpings. His 77 catches set a new Derbyshire-record. He notched his first half-century in the 1963 season, though averaged under 10.00. His 32 first-class games that season, what would be a career high, and a career-best season total of 81 catches behind the timbers. This included all ten wickets in a match against Hampshire falling courtesy of his glove-work.
The 1964 season was marked for Taylor's mid-season ankle injury. Though it occurred when he was playing football, he told his county that he had slipped on an escalator. According to Wisden the experience taught Taylor to be fastidious in his attention to physical fitness. He nevertheless scored his second half-century and took 58 catches. Nevertheless, Derbyshire considered dropping Taylor for Laurie Johnson, a more capable batsman. An effort with the pen from several Wisden contributors secured his reinstatement, however.
Taylor's strong keeping continued to secure his place in the side, though despite a career best 719 runs in the 1966 season his batting struggled, with no half-centuries to add to his tally. In 1967 his career was again put on hiatus through injury, when he edged a delivery into his own eye and suffered a detached retina which put him on his back for three weeks. He nevertheless took another 63 catches from 23 appearances, but managed only 442 runs at 18.41. His batting in the County Championship saw marginal improvement over the next two seasons, with a half century in 1968 and a career best 65 in 1969. The 1969 season also saw Taylor make his first major forays into List-A cricket. He made 19 appearances that year, having made only seven others over the previous six. He only scored 180 runs, however he took 28 catches behind the stumps which would be a season best for the rest of his career.
Over the winter of 1969, he was selected to tour Sri Lanka with the Marylebone Cricket Club. He played one match, on 20 February 1970, against Ceylon at Colombo. He scored 7 and 19*, and stumped Anura Tennekoon as the MCC moved to a convincing victory. Taylor returned to England for the 1970 county season, continuing his good form behind the stumps with 21 List-A and 51 Championship catches. He also snared 11 stumping victims, a career best. He toured with the MCC over the winter in Australia, with 16 more victims from four matches though his batting disappointed, with 94 runs at only 18.80.
With his experience with the MCC, and his county success behind the stumps, Taylor had been coming to the notice of England captain Ray Illingworth. Though Knott was incumbent, Illingworth rewarded Taylor's patience with a Test cap. Taylor made his Test debut against New Zealand at Christchurch on 25 February 1971. In an eight-wicket England victory, he took two catches and a stumping, but scored only four runs before being stumped by his opposite number. His quiet debut escaped any reference in Wisden's match report. He did not play another match on the tour, and would not play another Test for six more years.
Taylor instead returned to England for the 1971 season, improving with the bat and scoring 619 runs at 24.76, with three half-centuries and a best of 74*. He secured another 68 victims from behind the stumps across all matches. Over the winter of 1971/72, he was selected for the World Test XI tour of Australia, playing seven four-day matches under captain Rohan Kanhai. He took 21 catches, performed three stumpings and although he only scored 128 runs at 16.00 this including a half century against Western Australia on 4 December. He returned to England for the summer of 1972, scoring another half century and snaring fifty batsmen from behind the stumps in the County Championship, and a further 23 in the one day arena. A further 77 batsmen fell to Taylor in 1973, and he earned a place on the MCC winter tour of the West Indies. Although not being selected for the Test series over the incumbent Knott, he scored 65 against Jamaica on 9 February, outscoring Knott's five. In doing so, he passed 6,500 first-class runs in his career.
Taylor became a regular back-up keeper for Knott on England's winter tours. After a solid 1974 season with another County Championship half century and 86 victims with the gloves, he toured New Zealand with the England national side, and following 111 more wickets in 1975 toured South Africa with the International Wanderers under Greg Chappell. On facing a South African Invitation XI in Johannesburg on 2 April Taylor, batting in the second innings, scored a career best 97 before being dismissed by Howard Bergins. Over 1976 and 1977, he took 164 more dismissals, and scored 910 runs including another half-century. He was selected as Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1977, along with Mike Brearley, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Holding and Viv Richards.