Alastair Cook has invited James Taylor to be part of England’s dressing room this summer after his former team-mate quit cricket at the age of 26 with a serious heart condition.
Taylor played an integral part for England with the bat and at his specialist fielding position of short leg during last winter’s memorable 2-1 Test series victory in South Africa.
England captain Cook, speaking for the first time since news of Taylor’s retirement emerged, confirmed that those performances would have seen him keep his place at No 5 in England’s batting order for the first Test of the summer against Sri Lanka at Headingley next month.
Instead, the Nottinghamshire batsman will have surgery in the next 24 hours to fit a defibrillator after he was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).
However, Cook has spoken to Taylor and extended an open invitation for him to join England’s players in the dressing room this summer.
‘It is a huge loss and we’ll miss him,’ said Cook. ‘He was a great character to have around that dressing room. He’s more than welcome to pop into that changing room any time he wants. He knows that and I’m certain we’ll get him in there. I have spoken to him and all our thoughts are with him and his family.
‘He would have played in that first Test match this summer. He’s the type of character you need in a Test team — words can’t really describe how I’m feeling but hopefully he can get through this and we can see him around.’
Cook also said that Taylor, known to team-mates as ‘Titch’ on account of his height (5ft 6in), will offer England’s players an on-field inspiration during this summer’s Test series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
‘He was always proving people wrong, always working as hard as anyone could on their game, and we were just seeing the best of him,’ added Cook. ‘It is a reminder of how lucky we are to be playing for England. We want to show people this summer how much we appreciate it.
‘When things get tough we have to remember Titch would love to be out there and he can’t be, so we’ve got to carry his attitude on. Do we want to do it for Titch this summer? One hundred per cent.’ – Daily Mail