Former England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor has joined the Sussex coaching staff and will work with the men’s squad as well as Sussex Cricket Pathway in the upcoming season.
Taylor, one of the best wicket-keepers of all time in the women’s game, was part of the English team when they won the T20 and 50-overs World Cups in 2009 and the 2017 ODI World Cup.
“Sarah has so much to offer our players, but also our environment,” James Kirtley, joint Sussex head coach with Ian Salisbury, said in a statement on Monday.
“She is hugely skilled in the world of wicketkeeping… as a coach she provides an excellent sounding board for ideas and is a fantastic communicator.”
Taylor retired from all forms of cricket in 2019 with 232 dismissals in 226 appearances.
A woman coaching in an elite men’s sport isn’t unheard of but is a very rare thing and Indian star cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin and popular commentator Harsha Bhogle were impressed by Taylor’s appointment.
“The change is here,” wrote Ashwin while tagging former Proteas performance analyst Prasanna Agoram. Bhogle, on the other hand, hoped that this moment could guide the future of cricket.
👏👏 The change is here @prasannalara https://t.co/fQrmZzo3xk
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) March 16, 2021
Congratulations @SussexCCC on the appointment of @Sarah_Taylor30 to the coaching staff. I look forward to the day when a woman being on the coaching staff of a men's team doesn't make news but for the moment this is a pathbreaking and totally deserving appointment.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 16, 2021
