Former England women’s team keeper Sarah Taylor will be seen back on the cricketing field as she joined the Welsh Fire squad for the upcoming The Hundred tournament.

The 31-year-old, one of the best wicketkeepers of all time, was part of the England sides that won the Twenty20 and 50-overs World Cups in 2009. She made 226 appearances for England, including 10 Tests, 126 One-Day, and 90 T20 games, before retiring from international cricket in 2019.

She cited anxiety for her calling time on her international career.

"There's been a real buzz about The Hundred, and especially the women's competition. We've got the best players from around the world involved, and the temptation to be part of it was too great to resist. I'm so excited at the prospect of playing again,” Taylor said in an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) statement.

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The women's season of the ECB's franchise-based league begins with Oval Invincibles meeting Manchester Originals on July 21, a day before the men's competition begins.

Apart from Sarah Taylor, many other big-name women cricketers will feature in the tournament- Meg Lanning (Fire), Sophie Molineux (Trent Rockets), and Alyssa Healy (Northern Superchargers).

The matches in the Hundred will comprise 100 balls per innings with a change of ends after 10 deliveries. The ECB invested heavily in this new format in hopes of attracting younger audiences to the sport.

(Reuters inputs)