TWO weeks after it was announced that Pudsey Congs’ Andrew Bairstow is retiring at the end of the season, another All Rounder Cricket Bradford Premier League stalwart is calling it quits.

However, former Yorkshire and Derbyshire opening bat Chris Taylor, who has done so much to establish Lightcliffe as a force in the top flight, is hanging up his whites with immediate effect.

The 33-year-old, who made his first-team debut for Pudsey St Lawrence aged 14, explained: “I have struggled with a fatigue-based illness for 18 months now and cannot continue to commit time and energy, but I am also busy with work and family commitments.”

Former Benton Park pupil Taylor made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in 2008, and admitted: “That was my dream as a kid to play for my county, and I not only realised it but won the County Championship title with them as well (2001), and played cricket full-time for ten years.

“My other chief memory was scoring a one-day 100 for Derbyshire against Yorkshire at Headingley (he was the first player in their history to also score a century on his first-class debut), but I am also proud of the records I have set in the Bradford League, such as being the fastest to 1,000 runs, which I achieved in 14 innings in 2010.

“I have reached 1,000 runs in a season four times, scored centuries in three successive innings and have an average of almost 57 in the Bradford League (9,486 runs at an average of 56.46).

“If you told me that I would score 57 every time I went out to bat in the Bradford League, which is the best league in the United Kingdom, no matter what anyone else thinks, then I would be happy.

“I would also like to think that I have entertained a few people along the way, but now it is time for the youngsters.”

Taylor added: “I am also proud that Lightcliffe, where I have been captain and cricket committee chairman, are established as a top-flight club.

“The season before I joined them they finished third from bottom in Division Two (2008) but in 2012 we almost won Division One (Woodlands 287 points, runners-up Lightcliffe 280) and in 2013 we won the Priestley Cup (they were also runners-up last year) – not bad for an archetypal village club who only pay a professional.”

Taylor, who confirmed that he would be continuing as both the league’s sponsor and as a coach bringing on the next generation at Lightcliffe as they seek to unearth another Taylor or Alex Stead, added: “The Bradford League has had some undue criticism but David Young, Alan Birkinshaw and Keith Moss have done exemplary jobs in what are effectively voluntary roles in moving the league forward.”