Taylor stands by his 'great players' (11 December 1998)
THE leadership of Mark Taylor has been based on strong principles and his moral strength, never pretentiously flaunted but evident in all he has done since taking over as Australia's captain four years ago, was never better demonstrated than it was
11-Dec-1998
11 December 1998
Taylor stands by his 'great players'
By Christopher Martin-Jenkins
THE leadership of Mark Taylor has been based on strong principles
and his moral strength, never pretentiously flaunted but evident
in all he has done since taking over as Australia's captain four
years ago, was never better demonstrated than it was yesterday
when his turn came to face the media on the betting scandal which
has diverted attention from the start of the third Test in
Adelaide.
When Taylor says, as he did, that he truly believes there are no
other skeletons in the Australian cupboard, all are inclined to
believe him. There is an obvious integrity behind his bluff
approach to every question. "My feelings about Shane [Warne] and
Mark [Waugh] are exactly the same as they were at the time. They
made a mistake and admitted that mistake. The ACB handled the
matter in the way they thought it should be handled. The
ramifications would have been the same if it had been made public
at the time. It would have created the same media storm then.
"As their captain then and now, I have no problem in playing with
either player. Their records show that they have been great
players for Australia and I certainly hope that continues for a
lot longer yet. It worried me at the time because they had
compromised themselves by what they did, but I knew they hadn't
done anything to try and harm Australia's chances.
"People are allowed to make mistakes, but it's not fair to put
Mark and Shane in the same bracket as what's been going on in
Pakistan. They spoke to a certain person on the phone, giving the
same sort of information as I've just given the press about Ian
Healy's fitness, and they received some money for it. As soon as
that was found out, they were told to stop it, and they haven't
done it since. Mark and Shane have always liked to have a bet, so
they were an easy target."
"People can always find a case against the Australian evidence,
but the most damning evidence throughout the whole case has come
from the other Pakistani players. An ICC investigation sounds
very good but I don't think the individual countries will be
prepared to make the ICC the judge and jury."
Switching to the present, Taylor said that he did not think the
rumpus would affect his team in the current match. "The amount of
publicity will make it hard for Mark, but he has to go out and
treat it as another Test match. He has my support and the support
of all the players. Two guys took a fast buck, but nothing more
than that. We have to get this matter into perspective."
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)