Bishop: Patience key for Taylor

Bishop: Patience key for Taylor
By COLIN BENJAMIN Saturday, June 13 2015

Former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop has credited Jerome Taylor’s improved fast-bowling patience to his success as he clinched his best Test figures of 6/47 on day two of the final Test against Australia yesterday.

It is now one year since Jerome Taylor returned to international cricket in the first Test versus New Zealand in Kingston, after being out of Jamaica and West Indies colours for almost five years –dating back to the first Test versus Australia in November 2009 at Brisbane.

Bishop has been present at all of Taylor’s 12 Tests worldwide since his comeback. Bishop spoke to Newsday about Taylor’s improvement late in his career. “He has gotten better; when he came back he had a good couple of games versus New Zealand then he started struggling a bit - I remember particularly in the Barbados Test of that series.

“Then he went on to struggle in South Africa. I don’t know what clicked but in the World Cup he found better rhythm, started working harder, got stronger, his pace is up – now he has become re-acclimatised with international cricket which is brilliant for West Indies,” said Bishop.

Having made his Test debut as an 18-year-old under Brian Lara’s captaincy in 2003, during the aforementioned five-year absence, many cricket fans thought Taylor was finished before he had even reached age 30.

Bishop, who had his excellent Test career cut short to only 48 Tests due to injury, reasoned that despite that lay-off from cricket, a lot of factors will determine how much more years Taylor has in the game. “You look at someone like Ryan Harris who is still playing at age 35, fast bowlers are fitter now to be able to sustain their excellence longer than in years gone by,” he said.

“It also comes down to genetics but if I were to guess, Taylor has another good two to two and a half years. He is also a guy who passes on a lot of knowledge to other bowlers, so there is a key dual purpose to Jerome.”

Bishop continued: “He understands bowling, if you sit with him you can clearly understand how he is trying to get batsmen out. The key to his improvement has been is improved patience, he is by no means the perfect, but has always been the West Indies quick with the greatest skill-set in his career.”