Taylor: Maybe a perfect time to play SA

England

England batsman James Taylor feels it could be the perfect time to play South Africa, ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series between the sides, starting on Boxing Day in Durban.

The Proteas will go into the much anticipated games against England on the back of being hammered three-nil in the Test series in India recently, with the Southern African side's vulnerability against spin bowling exposed.

England themselves come off a Test series defeat – they lost two-nil against Pakistan in the UAE – but Taylor makes sure to point out that the Three Lions are still an improving side under Australia caoch Trevor Bayliss, who took over earlier this year.

Taylor said: "South Africa have obviously come back from a tough tour of India, which you could say is the perfect time to play them. But they are the best team in the world on paper at the minute, so it is going to be a good test.
 
"It's exciting: we're in a really good place as a side and got plenty of exciting faces that have got a lot to prove. I think if you look how we did in the UAE, while the results didn't suggest it, I think we played far better cricket.

"It's a good time to play anybody because of the way we are as a side: we're an exciting side and every time we step onto the field we're improving."

The Boxing Day Test will be followed by the traditional New Years game at Newlands while the series will conclude with matches at the Wanderers and Centurion respectively.

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