The Hundred | Sarah Taylor comes out of retirement to sign up for Welsh Fire

The Hundred | Sarah Taylor comes out of retirement to sign up for Welsh Fire

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Sarah Taylor will be coming out of retirement

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Legendary England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor has confirmed that she will be coming out of retirement to represent Welsh Fire in the inaugural season of The Hundred later this year. Taylor had announced her retirement from international cricket in September 2019 following a long battle with anxiety.

In what could be described as the biggest coup for the competition yet, the inaugural edition of The Hundred will see Legendary England wicket-keeper Sarah Taylor make her comeback to the cricket field. Taylor, 31, widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keepers to have graced international cricket, announced her retirement in September 2019 following a long battle with anxiety, but the veteran admitted that the temptation of featuring in a historic competition like The Hundred was impossible to resist. She will be representing the Welsh Fire, who already boast the likes of Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen and Beth Mooney.

"There has been a real buzz about The Hundred, and especially the women's competition," Cricbuzz quoted Taylor as saying. 

"We've got the best players from around the world involved and the temptation to be part of it was too great to resist. I'm so excited at the prospect of playing again. It'll be really special to get back out there and be part of a Welsh Fire side that hopefully can have a great first season."

Taylor, who was recently snapped up by Sussex as a coaching staff, revealed that her stint with the County Club was eye-opening, as it made her believe that she could return to the cricket field as a player once again. 

"I just needed to shut the door on cricket, just disappear for a little bit in my own little bubble and work out a few things," Taylor said. 

"I was fortunate to join up with the Sussex guys just to learn a lot about me as a coach, about how I operated in a group in that team environment and it just felt really normal again, which is what I was hiding from a little bit.

"It opened my eyes to the fact that I wanted to be part of a team again but I didn't know to what extent. It was then a case of having that hit and I felt absolutely fine. I wasn't scared of the idea of playing, whereas before I was."

The 31-year-old, who has over 4,000 runs in ODI cricket, further revealed that she simply couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play alongside Meg Lanning, whose Australian cricket team recently set the record for the most consecutive wins in ODI  history.

"A draw for me was also playing with [Australia captain] Meg Lanning, that's always something that I've wanted to do for quite a few years. I'm fed up of fetching her balls rather than being at the non-striker's end, so that will be nice.

"It's a good opportunity career-wise, I can't wait to work with Beth Mooney, she's a great player. Coaching-wise it's a good move for me to work with [Australia Women coach] Matthew Mott, who's an amazing coach. I'm still very much looking at the coaching role in the future but this should be a little bit of fun."

Taylor's last appearance came against Australia in July 2019 in the Ashes.

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