Billy Taylor resurrected his cricket career in New Zealand after being rejected by Hampshire in 1997 - following some advice from his elder brothers and a fellow factory worker.

Taylor, who also plays for Winchester KS with brothers James and Martin, worked at Hamble's Aerostructures factory after failing to win a contract with Hampshire.

"I gave up club cricket for a few weeks before my brothers got hold of me, and I started working 12-hour shifts making parts for Boeing 737s," he recalled after putting pen to paper on a three year contract yesterday

"A guy who had worked at the factory all his life asked why I was working there when I was a pretty good cricketer. He said I should give it another go, that I could always go back if the cricket didn't work out.

"I went off to New Zealand and had the season of my life."

Taylor took 98 wickets in 28 games while playing for a club called Foxton, near Wellington, in 1997-98.

And it was in a game against the MCC that he impressed the then Sussex second XI coach Keith Greenfield, who was captaining the tourists.

Ironically, Taylor had already written to Greenfield asking for a trial. "I introduced myself to him after the game and had a three day trial at Sussex when I got back.

"It was so cold the ball didn't move - there were hail stones and it snowed - and I didn't hear any more for a while but kept pestering them and was offered a contract after 21 wickets in three games."

Now former Bitterne Park schoolboy Taylor is back - and with a county championship winners medal to boot. "I'm a lot fitter than I was in 1997," he added. "I could always bowl long spells but I've got more pace now and am a lot more consistent. When I was younger I bowled two or three bad balls an over. Now I don't bowl many bad balls at all.

"The experience of playing with and against good players for Sussex means I bowl in the right areas consistently.

"I hit the deck hard and get a bit of seam movement with more pace and more bounce than back then."

Taylor will spend the winter in the Rose Bowl gym and working on his other career as a tree surgeon. He will be staying with his parents Vic and Jackie while he looks for his own house in Southampton.

"It's amazing and a bit overwhelming to have signed for Hampshire," he added. "I was ready to put my feet up over the winter and now I'm already looking forward to starting another season.

"I was obviously disappointed not to get a contract before but there were a lot of good players around then as well and they couldn't guarantee me first class cricket.

"I really wanted to prove a point to Hampshire, now I've done that."

Taylor, also a qualified carpenter, added: "There's no reason why we can't do what Sussex have done in the next couple of years - Sussex were down at the bottom of the table themselves a few years ago."