England's James Taylor ready for South Africa challenge
Wednesday 16 December 2015 11:18, UK
England batsman James Taylor is confident he has learnt how to deal with South Africa's fearsome pace attack ahead of the first Test later this month, three years after making his debut against them.
Taylor - who struck 114 before retiring on day one of England's warm-up match against a South African Invitational XI - earned the first of his three caps against the Proteas at Headingley in May 2012; Morne Morkel ensured it was a series to forget, dismissing him three times for scores of just 34, 10 and four.
The Nottinghamshire batsman was dropped immediately and did not play for the Test side again until last month, but he believes the experience has made him stronger.
"Obviously in terms of runs I don't remember it as fondly as I would like but I felt pretty confident and comfortable at the crease," he said.
"That was three years ago and now I'm a lot more experienced, have played a lot more international cricket, so I'm hoping it's going to work in my favour.
"I feel in a really good place and I'm a better player now than I was three years ago so hopefully the runs will come with that."
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Taylor earned his recall to the Test squad by consistently impressing in the ODI team. In 27 limited overs matches he has scored 887 runs at an average of 42.23 with his highest score of 101 coming against Australia in September.
That form saw him return to the Test side for the series against Pakistan in November, where he top scored with 76 in England's opening innings, and his confidence is high ahead of the first Test in South Africa on Boxing Day.
"Obviously it's going to be a massive series and they're in their own backyard and are the No 1 team in the world," he said.
"But I feel in a really good place and I've had a good year leading up to this, so hopefully it's going to work in my favour and I can score a few runs out there."
Both teams are going into the Boxing Day Test on the back of series defeats, but Taylor believes it is South Africa who should be worried.
"It's a good time to play anybody from where we're at. We're playing some really good cricket and we're a really exciting young side.
"Although it's going to be a tough task, they've had a really tough tour in India, and I think we're going to be on South African soil for as long as they've been back so it's pretty even."
Coverage of the first Test between South Africa and England in Durban gets underway at 7.30am on Boxing Day morning on Sky Sports 2 HD, or watch without a contract on NOW TV.
