of 180 as Transvaal won by an innings and 306 runs. The following week against Natal, he and Ken Funston took Transvaal within 32 runs of Natal's first innings total with eight wickets in hand, but Hugh Tayfield and Ian Smith, and Taylor was then bowled by Tayfield for nine as Transvaal made 99 in pursuit of a target of 246 to win. As Trevor Goddard's 55 helped Natal bat out 46 overs for the draw in the return leg, where Taylor hit 61 of his team's 423 runs in two innings, and Transvaal also failed to beat Western Province, they had to be content with second place; with 461 runs, the most Taylor had made in a Currie Cup season, Taylor finished seventh in the runs tally but topped the batting averages. Taylor got his captaincy debut the following season, leading his team to a 52-run win over Eastern Province and the league lead, but followed it up by getting bowled by Hugh Roy (a medium-pacer with a career bowling average of 42) as Transvaal chased 272 for their third win. Despite Russell Endean's unbeaten 91, Transvaal lost, and Western Province got off to the start that would eventually lead to the Currie Cup title. Transvaal also lost their other clash with Western Province, as they chased 120 with eight wickets down on a rain-affected wicket. Taylor top-scored after being put in to open. However, he only got one fifty in the season, and with 235 runs he finished 34th on the Currie Cup runs table. There was no Currie Cup cricket the following season, as England toured and played 20 first-class matches. However, there was a first-class match between Transvaal and Natal, and after a run out in the first innings Taylor hit 85 as Transvaal recovered from a 145-run first innings deficit to win the game by three wickets. Taylor played in two games for Transvaal and a South African XI against the tourists, and with captain Jackie McGlew out of the Test squad with an injury he was picked for the first Test starting on Christmas Eve. He ended with 12 and 6 in his two innings, as England won the Test by 131 runs. McGlew returned for the second Test, but was unable to play again, but now Rhodesia opener Tony Pithey was preferred to Taylor, who ended the season with a first class batting