Steven Ryan Taylor (born November 9, 1993) is an American cricketer.[1] He has played for the United States national cricket team since 2010 and previously captained the team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman and bowls right-arm off spin; early in his career he also played as a wicket-keeper.[2][3] He has also played in West Indian domestic cricket including for several teams in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Career
Early years
He was born in South Florida to Jamaican parents, Loveth and Sylvan Taylor. Along with being a left-handed batsman who often opened the batting, he was also a wicketkeeper. He was taught at an early age on the sidelines of grounds around Florida by his father, Sylvan, and later by his mentor, former USA left-handed batsman Mark Johnson. Taylor later became the first 14-year-old to hit half centuries in the South Florida Cricket Alliance (SFCA) and the Keith Graham Memorial Classic (now the SFCA Sims Cup Classic). The innings, against Pakistan, was while he was representing a SFCA Youth Team, and included 4 fours and 3 sixes off 33 balls and lasted 41 minutes. He then scored 212, 206, and 51 off Big Broward Cricket Academy, the Atlanta-based Cricket Academy of USA, and the Michigan Cricket Academy. In the SFCA Sims Classic, he was left unbeaten on 87 against India, and 75 against Pakistan. He was the youngest player in the SFCA Premier Division.[4]
Taylor was selected as vice-captain for the ICC Americas Under-19 Championship held in their own ground at Florida, in the 2010–11 season. He was also the wicketkeeper-batsman on that tournament.[7] USA won that tournament unbeaten,[8] and Taylor too had a successful tournament finishing third on the top run-getters' list with 157 runs from 5 games with a top score of 83,[9] and also topped the most dismissals' list with 7 dismissals (5 catches, 2 stumpings) from 5 games.[10]
International career
Following his performances in the domestic and Under-19 arena, he was given the call-up to play in USA's 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Four campaign, where they had gained promotion from Division Five.[11] USA won the tournament, demolishing Italy in the final,[12] with Taylor playing throughout the tournament.
Later in the year, he represented the United States in the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three, where he led all batters with 274 runs, for a run rate of 45.66. He scored a century in that tournament when he scored 162 in the opening match against Nepal.[17]
On May 30, 2017, during the third-place playoff in the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament, Taylor scored his 1,000th run in one-day cricket, becoming the fourth player for the United States to reach the landmark.[20]
In April 2019, he was named in the United States cricket team's squad for the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Namibia.[28] The United States finished in the top four places in the tournament, therefore gaining One Day International (ODI) status.[29] Taylor made his ODI debut for the United States on 27 April 2019, against Papua New Guinea, in the tournament's third-place playoff.[30]
In August 2019, he was named as the vice-captain of the United States' squad for the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier tournament.[34] He was the leading run-scorer for the United States in the tournament, with 144 runs in six matches.[35] In November 2019, he was named as the vice-captain of the United States' squad for the 2019–20 Regional Super50 tournament.[36]
