Sarah Taylor will miss the forthcoming Women’s World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, the ECB have revealed.
A mutual decision was made by both the player and the management staff with the welfare of the player the top priority.
Taylor missed England’s tour of India earlier this year, as well as one Super League group-stage game for her side Surrey Stars, as the ECB have sought to manage her ongoing anxiety issues.
Coach Mark Robinson said: “Since the end of the summer Sarah hasn’t been able to train fully with the squad due to not being as fit as she would want to be from a psychological point of view.”
“At the moment she isn’t in a place where we would all be comfortable that the demanding training, playing and travel schedule wouldn’t potentially put her backwards and make her road to full recovery longer.”
“It’s important we see mental health in a similar way to a player with a physical injury. You wouldn’t risk a player if you felt that playing them with an injury would increase the chances of them being out for a long time or the issue even becoming career-threatening.”
Taylor will continue to train at Loughborough during the tournament.
The full England squad is due to be announced next Thursday at Lord’s. This news suggests that Amy Jones, as second choice keeper, will now definitely be in the side, with presumably Tammy Beaumont as back-up.
CRICKETher 
Big blow to England, but I have for a while suspected that Taylor will increasingly be unavailable for tours. I have no problem with that: her health matters more. It might also prompt the ECB to rejig their selection policies: the idea of their being “eleven best players” may need to be put aside for a much more “horses for courses” selection policy. It would be great if England could lead the world in that.
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Absolutely the right decision, her mental health is far more important than cricket.
From a team perspective, I would guess that Lauren Winfield comes into the side and Heather Knight goes up to 3.
The England setup deserve a lot of credit for the way they’ve dealt with Taylor’s illness. Things have come a long way from the days of Marcus Trescothick.
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“From a team perspective, I would guess that Lauren Winfield comes into the side and Heather Knight goes up to 3” – it might be worth clarifying that this statement assumes Jones is already in the side.
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It’s a shame, but it would be counter-productive for her to play if she wasn’t 100% ready, so it seems the only choice. I guess this means that Winfield now has more of a chance, as middle order bat and “backup to the backup” keeper.
We’ll see how the Aussies go against NZ in this new series starting tonight. They’ll be under pressure to win comfortably, as we did in the summer. Any results for NZ will be a big bonus.
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A blow to England, undoubtedly, but that pales alongside ones hopes that Sarah looks after herself. Her health and wellbeing is the only thing that matters.
MR is absolutely right that mental health should be treated like a physical injury, but of course it differs in at least one significant way. Recovery is not often measurable, and nor is it definite or permanent. We all said last summer how good it was to see her back and well again but it’s clear that this will always be an ongoing thing. If she can continue to contribute within that then England will be blessed, but it’s equally clear both from Robinson’s comments and from Andy Bull’s piece in the Guardian that the England team/squad has been an environment where she has been looked after and where her troubles have been taken seriously. Everyone should take great credit for that.
She will be missed but in Amy Jones England have a more than capable deputy.
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