Sarah Taylor profile: GOAT wicketkeeper status, viral chat with Ravindra Jadeja, coach of men's teams and more

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Former England wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Taylor grabbed attention on Wednesday after announcing the pregnancy of her partner Diana Main on Instagram.

The 33-year-old is not the first women's cricketer to come out as lesbian. England stars Natalie Sciver and Katherine Brunt have announced their same-sex marriage after being in a relationship for close to five years. The duo got engaged in October 2019.

Star Australia pacer Megan Schutt also came out lesbian and married her long-term partner Jess Holyoake in 2019. The couple was blessed with a baby girl named Rylee Loiuse Schutt in August 2021.

"Being a mother has always been my partner's dream. The journey hasn't been an easy one but Diana has never given up. I know she will be the best mum and I'm so happy to be a part of it. 19 weeks to go and life will be very different ! So proud of you," wrote the former wicket-keeper batter," wrote Taylor alongside pictures shared on her Instagram profile.

Replying to the heartwarming post from the cricketer-turned-coach, her partner Diana wrote, " There is no one else I could share it with, my love xxx." Taylor replied to the comment with three heart emojis.

The curiosity around the cricketer has grown ever since her bold post. Here is all you need to know about the England star.

• Sarah Taylor was born in Whitechapel, London.

• She made her England debut with a T20I match against India Women on August 5 in Derby. Her ODI and Test debut also came against India in the same month.

• Taylor scored unbeaten 21 off 22 in her debut T20I match. In her debut ODI innings she scored match-winning 40 runs off 68 runs. In her second ODI outing, Taylor brought up her maiden fifty (61 off 63) to grab the Player of the Match award. The debut Test match saw her score 9 and 28 runs in the two innings.

• Sarah Taylor smashed seven ODI hundreds during her 13-year-long international career. Her maiden hundred came against Australia on March 1, 2007 during the Women's Quadrangular Series. The right-hand batter brought up her last hundred against South Africa Women in Hove.

• Taylor was part of the England squad which won the T20 World Cup and 50-over World Cup.

• Considered as one of the most naturally talented players produced by England, Taylor scored 54 and 45 in England's semi-final and final victories over South Africa and India respectively at the World Cup in 2017.

• She played a total of 126 ODIs, 90 T20Is and 10 T20Is before retirning in 2019 at the age of 30.

Sarah Taylor wicketkeeping genius

• "She is the best wicketkeeper in the world at the moment - male or female," Adam Gilchrist had said praising Sarah Taylor in 2018.

• Taylor holds the record for third highest number of catches in women's ODI. She finished her career with 85 catches in 126 ODIs.

• She has also inflicted joint highest number of stumpings in women's ODIs. India's Anju Jain shares the record with her with 51 stumpings.

Sarah Taylor batting record

• She is the third-highest run-scorer for England in ODI cricket. She scored 4056 at an average of 38.26.

• Overall, she is eleventh on the list of highest run-scorers in women's ODI history.

• Her tally of seven hundred is third highest for England.

• Overall, she has joint fifth-highest number of hundreds in ODI cricket.

Sarah Taylor T20I records

• The former cricketer scored 2177 runs in 90 T20Is. it's the third-highest by an England Women's batters.

• Her tally of 23 T20I catches is second highest by an England Women cricketer.

• Overall, she ranks tenth in the all-time list of most T20I catches by a women's cricketer.

• Taylor has 51 stumpings to her name in women's T20I. It's the second-highest in history after 58 from Australia's Alyssa Healy

Sarah Taylor Coaching career

• She was named assistant coach of Team Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi T10 competition in 2019.

• She joined Manchester Originals as men's assistant coach in 2022.

• Taylor is also the wicket-Keeping coach of Sussex's men's squad.

When Sarah Taylor came out of retirement

• Taylor came out of retirement to play for Wesl Fire in the inaugural season of the Women's Hundred.

• She also represented Northern Diamonds in the Charlotte Edwards and Rachael Heyhoe Flint Cups.

When Sarah Taylor's Twitter chat with Ravindra Jadeja went viral

In 2014, Indian men's team and England women's team lost their respective T20 World Cup finals on April 6 by an equal margin. Sri Lanka and Australia Women defeated India and England Women by six wickets each. India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had supposedly sent a direct message to Sarah Taylor but since he wasn’t following her on Twitter, she could not respond to him privately. Instead, she tagged Jadeja and replied to each of his messages with public tweets which the fans could also see. What started off with a cricketing conversation ended with them deciding to meet by the poolside at 10 AM.

Sarah Taylor battle with anxiety

She took a year off from the game to manage her anxiety in 2016 before retiring from international cricket three years later due to the same reason at the age of just 30.

“In my last three years I was incredibly lonely. [I would] go to training, come back to my room, stay there all night, room service. Again, [I] avoided friendships, avoided people, avoided media, avoided expectation, tried to avoid cricket at times, avoided training," Taylor had told while Speaking to Headstrong: An Innings With.