Mark Taylors Supreme Sacrifice.
When Mark Taylor of Australia retired from Test Matches he had played 104 Tests for Australia scoring 7525 runs with 19 centuries at a average of 43.49. He also captained Australia with distinction taking of from where Allan Border left by captaining in 50 Tests winning 26 of them, while 13 of them were drawn. Mark Taylor was also a brilliant slip fielder having taken 157 catches in Test Matches which then was a world record. One of high point of Taylor's career has been how he in tandem with Shane Warne plotted the dismissals of many batsmen. At that point of time Mark Taylor Shane Warne combination held the world record for the maximum number of dismissals by a fielder bowler combination. Mark Taylor was known for a strange sense of timing in taking major decisions. A couple of major decisions taken by Taylor were:-
Declaring himself at 334 without trying for a world record:- On a perfect batting pitch at Peshawar against Pakistan Mark Taylor was batting on an unbeaten 334 at the end of second day with the Australian score at an imposing 599 for 4 wickets. The then world record for maximum number of runs belonged to Brian Lara with 375, while Bradman held the Australian record with 334. Mark Taylor had 2 perfect reasons to chase Brian Laras world record. There was nothing in pitch for the bowlers to force a win and batting further meant sense while Australia were carrying a 1-0 match in the 3 Test Series. If Taylor would have batted further it would have given him a chance to break the world record and also effectively blow away Pakistans chances of squaring the series and going for kill in the decider. Taylor who was also the captain, however took a strange decision deciding to declare himself at 334 as he did not want to break Bradmans record as he revered Bramdan. That declaration however proved to be of no use as Australia could not force a win in the match, though they eventually went on to win the series. Taylor's personal sacrifice too went in vain as Mathew Hayden did not any such emotions while scoring 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth on 10th October 2003, surpassing the Australian record jointly held by Mark Taylor and Bradman and also Laras then world record score of 375. Though Mark Taylors supreme sacrifice went in vain, he has given a perfect example of selfless play.
Premature retirement at the age of 34:- Mark Taylor made his debut in 1989 and retired in 1999, just a couple of months after that monumental effort of 334 not out against Pakistan. In fact Taylor played for just 10 years for Australia and retired at the peak of his powers as batsman and captain of Australian team which was winning everything. Mark Taylor chose to retire at the age of 34 when most batsman are at the peak of their careers. At the time of his retirement Taylor was the 11th highest run getter in the history of Test Matches and 2nd behind Allan Border among Australians. Mark Taylor could have easily played on for another 3 to 4 years and that would have boosted his career tally by about 5000 runs considering the number of Test Matches Australians play in a year. One thing was for sure had Mark Taylor played on atleast for a couple of years he would have broken Allan Borders then world record tally of runs in Test Matches.
Mark Taylor would always be remembered by cricket fans all over the world for his gutsy and selfless batting, brilliant slip catching and as a brilliant leader.
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