Tests: 104 games, 7525 runs, 43.49 average, 19 centuries, highest score of 334*, 157 catches
ODI's: 113 games, 3514 runs, 32.23 average, 1 century, highest score of 105, 56 catches
Ashes Winner: 1989, 1990-91, 1993, 1994-95, 1997, 1998-99
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1990
Australian of the Year: 1999
Sports Australia Hall of Fame inductee: 2002
Officer of the Order of Australia: 2003
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductee: 2011
For ten years, Mark Taylor was Australia's Test match "Mr Reliable" - either through batting, fielding, or by virtue of his positive, cheerful, unflappable manner (which he would later use to great effect as Australian Test captain from 1994-1999).
Solid, steady and watchful - yet possessing a strong cut, cover drive, hook and pull - Taylor's Test career began with a difficult home series against the West Indies, before announcing his talents to the world with a phenomenal 839 runs in six Ashes Tests on the famous 1989 tour of the UK. In my memory, this series was where Taylor was at his best as a Test batsman.
The natural heir apparent to Allan Border as Australian captain, Taylor turned the team into an aggressive, dominant outfit bookended by the graceful brutality of his opening partner Michael Slater and the mesmeric witchcraft of Shane Warne. Teammates of Richie Benaud would often recall looking at the calm skipper in the field and thinking "Richie's up to something, he's got this covered" and the gum-chewing, dawdling Taylor always gave the same impression.
Following a period in which he did not pass 50 in twenty-one Test innings between late 1996 and the first innings of the 1997 Edgbaston Test, Taylor's position - and his captaincy with it - looked shot to pieces. What followed though was a second innings of 129, which this bleary-eyed Australian will remember forever!
The Pakistan tour in 1998 brought the famous 334 not out at Peshawar and in his final series - against England in 1998-99 - Taylor took a record-breaking 157th Test catch.
Never a particularly good "fit" for ODI cricket due to his "slow and steady wins the race" approach to batting, Taylor's captaincy nevertheless engineered what I think is still the best One Day win by an Australian team - a five run win over the West Indies in the 2nd Semi Final at Chandigarh at the 1996 World Cup.
As for my favourite moment - it has to be the Edgbaston hundred
I would love to hear your thoughts and memories!!!
ODI's: 113 games, 3514 runs, 32.23 average, 1 century, highest score of 105, 56 catches
Ashes Winner: 1989, 1990-91, 1993, 1994-95, 1997, 1998-99
Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 1990
Australian of the Year: 1999
Sports Australia Hall of Fame inductee: 2002
Officer of the Order of Australia: 2003
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductee: 2011
For ten years, Mark Taylor was Australia's Test match "Mr Reliable" - either through batting, fielding, or by virtue of his positive, cheerful, unflappable manner (which he would later use to great effect as Australian Test captain from 1994-1999).
Solid, steady and watchful - yet possessing a strong cut, cover drive, hook and pull - Taylor's Test career began with a difficult home series against the West Indies, before announcing his talents to the world with a phenomenal 839 runs in six Ashes Tests on the famous 1989 tour of the UK. In my memory, this series was where Taylor was at his best as a Test batsman.
The natural heir apparent to Allan Border as Australian captain, Taylor turned the team into an aggressive, dominant outfit bookended by the graceful brutality of his opening partner Michael Slater and the mesmeric witchcraft of Shane Warne. Teammates of Richie Benaud would often recall looking at the calm skipper in the field and thinking "Richie's up to something, he's got this covered" and the gum-chewing, dawdling Taylor always gave the same impression.
Following a period in which he did not pass 50 in twenty-one Test innings between late 1996 and the first innings of the 1997 Edgbaston Test, Taylor's position - and his captaincy with it - looked shot to pieces. What followed though was a second innings of 129, which this bleary-eyed Australian will remember forever!
The Pakistan tour in 1998 brought the famous 334 not out at Peshawar and in his final series - against England in 1998-99 - Taylor took a record-breaking 157th Test catch.
Never a particularly good "fit" for ODI cricket due to his "slow and steady wins the race" approach to batting, Taylor's captaincy nevertheless engineered what I think is still the best One Day win by an Australian team - a five run win over the West Indies in the 2nd Semi Final at Chandigarh at the 1996 World Cup.
As for my favourite moment - it has to be the Edgbaston hundred
I would love to hear your thoughts and memories!!!
