Les Taylor was one of the last of a breed - an English seamer from down the mines. Tall and muscular, he used accuracy and movement off the seam to good effect, and although he was 23 before he made his Leicestershire debut, he quickly established himself in the side. In 1981 he took 75 wickets, but threw in his lot with Graham Gooch's rebel tour to South Africa when overlooked by the selectors. On that trip he was the leading bowler with 11 wickets at 18.72. He made his England debut in 1985 after serving a three-year ban, playing the final two Tests of the summer. He did enough to win selection for that winter's tour of the Caribbean, but so rare were his outings in the West Indies that he was dubbed "Lord Lucan" by sections of the media. His career was dogged by niggling injuries - Martin Johnson once wrote that when Taylor was playing "the Grace Road physiotherapist got through more work than a Skegness donkey". As a batsman, Taylor was a genuine No. 11 - on one occasion with Leicestershire needing 20 to avoid the follow-on, Taylor arrived at the crease to face a rampaging Sylvester Clarke. David Gower, the Leicestershire captain, shook his head. "I just can't do it," he said, and declared.
Martin Williamson