Devon Cricket Board - Taylor stakes claim as youngest Premier player

Taylor stakes claim as youngest Premier player

BOVEY Tracey’s Sam Taylor staked a claim as the youngest player ever to appear in a Premier Division game when he kept-wicket against Heathcoat last Saturday.
Taylor was aged 13 years and 321 days when he crouched behind the stumps having been called up from the 2^nd XI as cover for the unavailable Lewis Hammett.
The Devon League doesn’t keep records about young players, but a trawl through old cuttings and archives suggest Taylor is the youngest player in Premier Division history.
Curiously, there are a number of wicketkeepers among the potential candidates for youngest player, but when checked Taylor is younger than them all.
Paignton’s Chris Read, who went on to keep for Notts and England, was 15 when he first played for Paignton in the early 1990s.
Mike Garnham, the North Devon stumper who went on to play for Essex and Gloucestershire, was 14 years and 240 days when he debuted against South Devon in May 1975. Sam Wyatt-Haines was 14 years and 222 days when he debuted for Bovey against Exeter in 2010.
There are plenty of 14 years old debutants, among them North Devon’s Overton twins, Seamus McKenna (14yrs 60days) when he was with Torquay, Exeter’s Orlando LeFleming and Nick Watkin, then with Barton.
The youngest player trawled up so far is Lewis Gregory, who was 14 years and 17 days when he first played for Plympton in 2006. Gregory is now with Somerset and recently made his England one-day debut.
Although Taylor looks like the youngest, Bovey skipper Peter Bradley said he was more than man enough for the job.
“Sam didn’t put a foot wrong – and did everything asked of him and more,” said Bradley.
“I was disappointed for him that he had nothing to do – no catches, no stumpings or run-outs – as that would have made his day.
“Sam has trained with the senior players so I knew beforehand he was up to it.
“His performance confirmed what a good player he is going to be. I won’t have any hesitation bringing him in again if needed.”

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