Taylor second Australian to score 334 (17 October 1998)

17 October 1998

Taylor second Australian to score 334

By Khalid H Khan

KARACHI, Oct 16: Skipper Mark Taylor equalled a 68-year-old Australian record during his epic unbeaten knock of 334 in the second Test against Pakistan at the Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar on Friday.

Taylor currently stands at par with the legendary Sir Donald Bradman's Test highest individual score of 334, compiled against England at Leeds in 1930.

The 33-year-old left-handed opening batsman became only the 14th player - and the fourth Australian - to hit up a triple century.

Others to score triple century for Australia are the(the only one to hit two separate triple hundreds), Bobby Simpson and Bob Cowper.

Taylor's record-breaking effort, in the process, also eclipses Javed Miandad's 280 not out v India at Hyderabad, 1982-83, the previous highest Test individual score in this country, after surpassing Graham Yallop's 268 at Melbourne, 1983-84, which was the highest score in Australia-Pakistan Tests.

Taylor, who made his Test debut against the West Indies at Sydney, 1988-89, has also surpassed the highest score by a captain in Tests which previously belonged to England's Graham Gooch, who made 333 (and 123) in the 1990 Lord's Test against India. Former Australian coach Bobby Simpson is the only other skipper to slam a triple hundred.

Five batsmen from England, four Australians, three West Indians and one batsman each from Pakistan and Sri Lanka feature in the 300-club.

For the city of Peshawar, this is the second time a triple hundred has been scored in an 'international' fixture. Former England captain Mike Brearley slammed an unbeaten 312 (in a day) for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)'s Under-25 team against North Zone at the Services Ground in 1966-67.

Taylor, who made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 1985-86, also passed 7,000 runs in the 173rd innings of his 98th Test when he reached 213 to become only the fourth Australian and the 16th batsman overall to join the club.

Among others in the 7,000-club, there are five each from the West Indies and England, and one apiece from Pakistan and India.

Taylor's predecessor as Australian skipper, Allan Border, heads the list with 11,174 runs in 156 Tests.

Bradman narrowly missed the target by just four runs, when he was bowled for a second ball duck in his final innings, to finish a glittering 52-match Test career with 6,996. However, his Test average of 99.94 still stands unbeaten.

Just to prove that cricket is a great leveller, Taylor is the only man in Test history to begin his captaincy reign by bagging a pair in the opening match of the 1994-95 series at Karachi's National Stadium.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)