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Mark Taylor retires

His decision comes less than four months after he equalled Sir Donald Bradman's Australian record innings score by making an unbeaten 334 against Pakistan in Peshawar.

"It's been a very, very enjoyable time for me as a person,'' Taylor told a news conference. "I don't sit here sad. I sit here quite happy. I've achieved in the game more than I ever thought I was going to achieve as a player and as a person, so I can sit here feeling very satisfied.''

Taylor, 34, ignored calls from the Australian Cricket Board to stay on for the tour of the West Indies later this month. He played his last Test in the victory over England at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 6.

Taylor's deputy, Steve Waugh, is considered the front-runner to take over the job while leg-spinner Shane Warne is also believed to be a candidate. The team for the West Indies tour will be named on February eight.

Taylor, who took over from Allan Border as captain on the 1994 tour of Pakistan, said he wanted to stay out of the debate over the new captain.

England captain Alec Stewart has led the tributes to Australian rival Taylor.

"He is the best captain I have played against,'' Stewart told the Associated Press. "He's the most tactically astute, not afraid to try things out. He has a great cricketing sense.''

Stewart, who led England in the recent Ashes loss, admitted that Australia is "undoubtedly the best team in the world'' because of Taylor's input.

Former South African batting great Barry Richards praised Taylor's innovation and statesmanship in the job.

"He reads the situations well and he is not afraid to try things,'' Richards said. "In all, he has been very good in upholding the traditions of the game. He is very good in dealing with his players and the media. He has done a wonderful job as a captain.''

"I am starting to lose the edge to compete, particularly on the international stage,'' Taylor said today. "And that's the main reason I am not going to the Windies, because I feel that my heart is not quite in it.''

Six Tests ago, he scored an unbeaten 334 on October 17 of last year against Pakistan in Peshawar, closing the team's innings so that he shared the Australian record with Sir Don. The innings and the nod to Bradman won him widespread affection from his countrymen, and Prime Minister John Howard named him Australian of the Year last week.

The timing of 34-year-old Taylor's retirement deprived him of a farewell match in the limelight, but there were signs it was coming in his 104th and final Test, against England at the SCG on January six.

Taylor, a rotund figure nicknamed 'Tubby' by his teammates, came out to field for the last time with a traditional baggy green cap, like those worn by Australian players since 1877, perched upon his head, instead of his trademark wide-brimmed white floppy hat.

"I wanted to make sure that if it is my last day of Test cricket in Australia I wore the right outfit, so the baggy green fit very well today,'' Taylor said then.

It was his 50th Test as captain, on his home ground -- as fitting an occasion as any to give his fans a chance to say goodbye.

At first Taylor indicated he wanted to be considered for the West Indies tour.

He said today that he was considering retirement two matches earlier in the series, after securing the Ashes in Adelaide.

"I've never been much for grandstanding,'' Taylor said. :I have enjoyed what I've done, I don't see myself as anything special. I'm glad I played my first and last Test in Sydney, on my home ground.''

Reports suggested the selection panel of Taylor's captaincy predecessor Allan Border, Trevor Hohns and Andrew Hilditch, believed Taylor should step down because of his mediocre batting in the Ashes series.

However, a week after he suggested for the first time that he was considering standing aside, the ACB tried to convince him to bat on.

"We'd like him to continue as long as possible,'' said ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed last weekend.

There are doubts over the two possible candidates to replace Taylor. His deputy Steve Waugh is 33 and has spent the season battling hamstring injuries, but is considered the likely short-term choice.

Long-term captaincy favourite Shane Warne has been exposed in a bookmaker scandal and admitted to being :naive and stupid'' for taking money off an illegal Indian bookie.

His statement that a man he only knew as "John'' gave him US $5,000 in a casino with "no strings attached'' was greeted with widespread cynicism, and the ACB is not in the habit of picking "naive and stupid'' leaders.

After the Windies, Australia faces a potentially volatile tour of Sri Lanka. The countries are cricketing enemies on two fronts -- Australia's refusal to play a World Cup match in Colombo in 1995 for security reasons, and the treatment of spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan by umpires Down Under.

While Taylor's batting skills may have declined, his diplomacy remains world class and the ACB considers that essential for a trip to Sri Lanka.

Taylor made a nervous start as captain in the 1994 series in Pakistan. He got a pair of ducks in his first game in charge and Australia lost the series 1-0. However, in 14 series as leader, Taylor has won 11.

Unlike the cautious Border, Taylor always attacked and had 26 wins, 13 losses and just 11 draws for a 52 percent winning rate, the fourth best all time performance in world cricket.

His Test career started five years before he took over the team and his first series, in England, was his best for runs.

The 334 aside, Taylor as captain never reached the same standards as he did when he was just an opener in Border's team.

However, the 334 was enough to turn around his career after a freefall in 1996 and 1997.

Just 16 months before etching out his ten-hour epic, Taylor had gone 21 Test innings without a half century and was in the worst slump of any Australian captain in history.

"His bat consisted entirely of edges and there was glue upon the soles of his boots, he didn't look capable of scoring 34, let alone 334,'' wrote cricket columnist Peter Roebuck.

Taylor went to England in 1997 with a growing line of officials, former players and newspaper editors, at home and abroad, calling for his head. On arrival, London's Daily Mirror presented him with a three-metre wide bat and he did not appreciate the joke.

His woes continued in the lead-up matches but his fortune changed in the first Test at Edgbaston. He scored 129 -- an ugly journey, painful to watch, but the one innings that allowed him to stand down graciously today, instead of being sacked on the spot.

He survived to lead Australia to its first series victory in Pakistan for 39 years, his 334 ensuring a drawn second match after winning the first.

"I've been a cricket fan for 20 years and I've never heard a 300 before,'' said a fan on Australian Radio as the country celebrated the feat in pubs and on talkback shows. "I couldn't believe it, i was jumping up and down and my guide dog had never heard me make a noise like that.''

Throughout his fall, Taylor had blind faith in his ability. His 334 made people see him as he wanted them to, and Australians will always remember him that way.