Herbert Wilfred Taylor MC (5 May 1889 – 8 February 1973) was a South African cricketer who played 42 Test matches for his country including 18 as captain of the side.

Specifically a batsman, he was an expert on the matting pitches which were prevalent in South Africa at the time and scored six of his seven centuries at home.

Born in Durban, Taylor attended Michaelhouse School from 1903 to 1907,[2] during which period he was coached by Sussex bowler George Cox.

[3] Taylor made his first-class debut for Natal in January 1910 against the touring MCC team, he opened the batting in both innings, scoring 55 and 30.

[4] After finishing the 1910/11 season as second highest run scorer in the Currie Cup,[5] he was selected for South Africa's touring party to England in 1912.

In the final warm-up match before the Triangular Tournament began, Taylor scored 83 in an innings victory over Worcestershire.

[8] In South Africa's second Test against Australia at Lord's he made his maiden half-century, batting at number six he top scored with 93 in a first innings total of 263.

[13] The Wisden end of series report stated: "Excellent in style and a powerful driver, he is likely to make a great mark before he is much older".

England (Marylebone Cricket Club) toured South Africa in 1913/14, the tourists final game before the Tests began was against Natal at Pietermaritzburg.

[22] In the fourth Test at Durban South Africa avoided defeat despite Sydney Barnes excellent form continuing, he claimed 14 more wickets to take his series tally to 49.

[24] In the fifth and final Test of the series at Port Elizabeth Taylor scored 42 and 87 as South Africa lost by ten wickets.

Yet at his deadliest Barnes met a worthy opponent in H. W. Taylor, who played with ease and assurance in each Test match...how possibly could any mortal batsman be subjected to a severer ordeal—Barnes on matting, with wickets falling at the other end all the time?

Taylor scored 150 in the opening match of the season against Orange Free State and finished with 372 runs at an average of 53.14.

Taylor, at number four, batted for four and a half hours over an innings of 102 however he received little support from his teammates and South Africa lost by 109 runs.

[46] It equalled the record for the lowest Test total, the previous score of 30 also set by South Africa against England.

He shared 54 and 99 run partnerships with Bob Catterall as South Africa averted a third consecutive innings defeat however they still lost by nine wickets.

"[53] In the tour as a whole he played in 34 first-class matches and scored 1,898 runs, marginally fewer than Dave Nourse but with a higher average of 42.17.

Taylor was no longer captain, having been replaced by Nummy Deane, but he showed himself to still be the country's leading batsman by top scoring in the series.

[57] He made another fifty in the third Test before scoring a first innings century in the fourth that played a crucial part in South Africa winning the match by four wickets and keeping the series alive.

[58] Wisden described Taylor's innings of 101: "By restrained methods he gradually obtained a mastery over the bowling and then hit so freely that he scored 101 out of 170 in two hours and twenty-five minutes".

He ended the series as South Africa's top scorer with 412 although Bob Catterall had a marginally higher average.

Wisden recorded: "The batting of both men reached a very high standard and, coming as it did in such circumstances, was easily the best in point of class and skill shown by the South Africans in the whole series of Tests.

"[63] The stand was a South African record for the fourth wicket until beaten in 2003 by Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten.

[11] The end of tour report in Wisden commentated that although he wasn't the dominating personality of previous years he was still the man England had most to fear.

The third match was also drawn but on this occasion England had the better of the play, Taylor scored an unbeaten 64 from a total of 145/8 in the second innings to ensure the draw.

[71] England needed to win the fifth Test to level the series but they were unable to dismiss South Africa quickly in the first innings having put them in and the hosts controlled the match from there.

[73] Taylor scored 41 and 47 in the first match at Brisbane and made innings of seven and six in the second at Sydney,[8] South Africa lost both Tests by wide margins.

[3] At the time of his retirement Taylor held a number of South African Test batting records, including most runs (2,936), centuries (7) and half-centuries (17).

[88] In Currie Cup matches he scored 3,226 runs at an average of 58.65[3] and was part of seven championship winning teams, four with Natal and three with Transvaal.

[89] However this was indicative of South Africa at the time and during his whole career Taylor only enjoyed four Test victories, he played a large part in the first two of these scoring centuries in the Johannesburg wins of 1922 and 1928.