10 facts about Mark Taylor - The Australian leader

10 facts about Mark Taylor – The Australian leader: Mark Taylor was such a masterful opening batsman, slip fielder and captain for Australia that he was looked upon as an all-rounder. A heavily built left-hander who played classically late, Taylor made 839 Test runs on his first England tour (1989) and for most of his 104 Tests remained reassuringly solid. He was equally dependable at first slip, where he cradled most of his world-record 157 catches. Let’s have a look at some of the interesting facts about Mark Taylor.

1. Born and brought up:

Mark Anthony Taylor, AO was born 27 October 1964 in Leeton, New South Wales.

The second of three children born to bank manager Tony Taylor, and his wife Judy, Mark Taylor’s early years were spent at Wagga, where his family relocated when he was eight. His father had a sporting background, playing first-grade rugby in Newcastle.

2. Early brush with the game:

Young Taylor preferred Australian rules football and cricket. Mark Taylor learned to bat in the family garage, with his father throwing cork balls to him. Taylor idolised Arthur Morris, the left-handed opening batsmen from New South Wales who led the aggregates on the 1948 “Invincibles” tour of England.

Taylor played for his primary school as an opening batsman and made his first century at the age of thirteen for the Lake Albert club at Bolton Park in Wagga.

3. Nickname

Mark Taylor was lovingly called  “Tubby” or “Tubs“.

Also Read – 32 Most popular nicknames in Cricket

4. Test match call-up:

Mark Taylor made his Test match debut versus West Indies in the year 1989. He scored 25 in the 1^st innings and 3 in the 2^nd innings.

5. Record breaking start:

Beginning with a century at Headingley in his first Test against England, Taylor amassed 839 runs at 83.90 in the six Tests- the second best aggregate in an Ashes series in England, behind Don Bradman’s 974 runs in 1930.

 6. Bouncing back:

Mark Taylor experienced a slump during the 1990–91 Ashes series. After making two half-centuries in the first two Tests, he failed to pass 20 in the last three and finished with 213 runs at 23.66 in a team that won 3–0.

Mark Taylor found himself on the outer for the ODI triangular tournament, missing all eight of the preliminary matches before returning to score 41 and 71 as Australia won the finals 2–0.

7. Captaincy:

Mark Taylor started his ODI captaincy with two tournaments in Sharjah and Sri Lanka. Australia missed the finals in both tournaments, winning three of their six matches.

After scoring 68* to guide his team to a nine-wicket win in the first match against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, Taylor’s form tapered off, scoring only 64 more runs to end the two tournaments with a total of 132 runs at 33.00.

8. 100^th Baggy green cap:

Mark Taylor’s swansong was the 1998–99 Ashes series against England, which began with his 100th Test in the first Test in Brisbane. He scored 46 and a duck—his first in Australia—as England were saved when thunderstorms forced the abandonment of play on the final afternoon.

Two half centuries in the next two Tests in Perth and Adelaide saw Australia win by seven wickets and 205 runs respectively, thereby retaining the series 2–0.

9. Records for most catches:

Mark Taylor broke Border’s world record for the most Test catches. His catch in the first innings equalled Border’s 156 and another in the second made him the sole owner of the record during the Sydney Test match.

10. Honours:

Mark Taylor retired from professional cricket in early 1999 after the Ashes series. On Australia Day, he was named the Australian of the Year.

He was awarded an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2002 and made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2003.