England Test batsman James Taylor has been forced to call an immediate end to his career following the discovery of a rare and serious heart condition that will see him undergo surgery. Taylor had expected to play for Nottinghamshire in last week's County Championship warm-up fixture against Cambridge University but withdrew with what he believed to be a viral condition. But specialist scans revealed the 26-year-old has Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Arrhythmia (ARVC) a rare but very serious heart condition. Taylor took to Twitter to say the shock revelation had been "the toughest week of my life" but was keeping a positive outlook for his recovery.
My prayers are with James, this is shocking news. Such a promising career..
This is such sad news, but I am relieved that they found the true cause of the issue. I myself am 31 years old this month. I cannot fathom not being able to play anymore, even though I just play club cricket. All the best to you James. May you have a successful operation and a speedy recovery.
[quote author=DownUnda link=topic=103731.msg689064#msg689064 date=1460456456]
My prayers are with James, this is shocking news. Such a promising career..
[/quote]
This is shocking. On the one hand it is extremely sad. Taylor quickly became one of my favourites to watch. Though small in stature, he was a giant at the crease. He was so confident and commanding. He was a busy cricketer. So quick between the wickets and arguably England's best player of spin. He was also an incredible fielder. He was really coming into his own at the international level.
On the other hand, I am glad that they were able to discover this now and hopefully he can still go on to live a full and productive life.
I will see if I can dig out a couple of his incredible catches from the recent series against South Africa and post them as a tribute to a fine young cricketer.
James Taylor finishes his ODI career with the third highest average (42.23) by an English batsman*. Only Jonathan Trott (51.25) and Joe Root (44.34) have a better average in one day internationals.
He also finishes with the fourth highest List A average (53.11) of all time. Only Michael Bevan (57.86), Cheteshwar Pujara (54.12) and AB de Villiers (53.53) have a better List A average.
He was a big part of England's future and will be missed. I hope he can stay around the game in some capacity.
