Matching a record set by a legend can be a special thing. Passing such record can be a cherry on top; but circumstances can arise from allowing a player to surpass the record. This was the exact scenario that met Mark Taylor, an Australian cricket opener, who was the captain on the tour of Pakistan in 1998 when this occured.
Mark Taylor became just the fourth Australian to post a triple-century in Test cricket. The Aussie captain finished day two of the second Test against Pakistan on 334*, equalling the highest Test score of the legendary Sir Donald Bradman. Taylor declared the following morning, ensuring the two players would be forever linked by that famous number.
After he'd batted for 12 hours across two days in temperatures that hovered in the mid-30's, Mark Taylor was physically and emotionally spent.
The captain had finished day two of the second Test against Pakistan unbeaten on 334 in his team's total of 599-4, level with Sir Donald Bradman's Australian record score, which had stood for over six decades. An exhausted Taylor retired to his hotel room in the northern city of Peshawar, where he quickly realised that a good night's sleep would elude him.
The 33-year-old was wrestling with a decision that would help define his legacy and, more importantly to Taylor, have a huge influence on Australia's chances of winning the match and the series. "I spent hours that night contemplating what to do," Taylor told cricket.com.au.
"I finally got to sleep at about 2 o'clock in the morning. I was thinking about what to do so I certainly didn't crash as well as I'd hoped. I think ideally I would have batted on for 20 minutes just to put their openers out in the field for 20 more minutes before we declared."
"But I thought if I did that I would then end up on 340 not out or something like that and I think people would have assumed that I'd batted on just for my own glory.
"I didn't want to send that message either so the more I thought about it, I came to the decision that the best thing I can do is declare (and) end up on the same score as Sir Donald, which I'm more than delighted with."
Playing in his 98th Test and with almost a decade of international experience behind him, Taylor's team-mates had unsurprisingly left their skipper alone to make his own decision. The Australian team held a vote on Friday night and decided that Taylor should bat on. He ignored it, timing the declaration to give the Australians the best opportunity of bowling out Pakistan twice, thus securing a series victory. Australia won the first Test of the three-match series.
Taylor says there was only one person close to him who managed to apply a small amount of pressure to bat on."I think my sister Lisa said 'bat on you idiot'." "So she probably would have liked me to go past (Bradman). But no one else was really saying that. I reckon after phone calls to home and my sisters and everyone else, it really just came down to me. Everyone was just saying 'you do what you think is right and what's in the best interests of the team.' And I think at the end of the day I did that. If I'd batted on ... I was pretty well saying goodbye to the chance of winning the game."
The opener's record-equalling innings had almost ended before it barely begun on the opening morning. He had got off the mark with an inside edge that flew over the middle stump and raced to the fine leg boundary. He had also been dropped when his score was on 18 and then again on 27.
Taylor then barely offered a chance from then on and, as a keen student of the game, he was well aware of the exclusive group he would join if he could pass the 300 mark.
"I wasn't feeling that bad until the high 200's," said Taylor, who had worked with fitness guru, Kevin Chevell, for five months leading up to the series. "I think the thought of making 300 makes you feel more weary. So I started to get a little bit weary, but I just kept telling myself that the chances of getting back to 280 or 290 again are minuscule."
"So I just gritted my teeth and said to myself this is my best chance to get one so I better not throw it away. So I just hung in there and (on 298) I got a short one off Mushy (leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed) and just beat the bloke at cover and as soon as I hit it I knew ... I was quite excited."
"I knew The Don had made 304, I knew Bob Cowper had 307 and I knew Simmo (Taylor's former coach, Bob Simpson) was 311. So when I got past that I was batting with Ricky Ponting and I said something like 'there goes Simmo'."
Having gone ahead of his former coach, Taylor had a golden opportunity to overtake Bradman when he faced the final two balls of the day on 334. Needing just one run to claim the record, Taylor clipped the final delivery of the day firmly to mid-wicket but was thwarted by a handy stop from in-fielder, Ijaz Ahmed. Taylor had no regrets.
He said, "I wouldn't change anything. I was comfortable with the decision I made at the time and I'm more than comfortable with it now. "I don't want people to think for a minute that I just batted to 334 and said 'that's it, I'm now going to declare.'
"That's not how it went. It was a quirk of fate that I ended up on the same score and I had the chance to work out what I wanted to do. I've always said to people that you're there to try and win games of cricket. I wanted to declare to give us a chance to win because we'd won the first Test and if we'd won that Test we would have won the series.
"As it turns out we didn't win the Test (the match ended in a draw) but I think I sent the right message to the team and to the people who watch at home."
While Taylor matched Bradman's score, the raw numbers indicate his famous performance at Headingley 64 years earlier was a far more attacking innings than the marathon effort of his contemporary.
Sir Donald Bradman, 90, released a statement through a spokesman, saying: "I want to congratulate Mark Taylor on his achievement. I wish him the very best of luck." Bradman had been unable to watch Taylor's innings from his Adelaide home because he was feeling ill but was full of admiration for the performance.
Australian newspapers, television and radio were dominated by Taylor's innings, and the public was consumed with speculation on whether he declare.
The Australian coach, Geoff Marsh, said that Taylor, known by team-mates as Tubby, had made a great sacrifice for the team. "A lot of the guys wanted him to bat on but Tubby put the team before his own record," Marsh said.
Bradman's innings took 383 minutes and 448 balls, while Taylor faced 564 balls and batted for almost twice as long. Bradman also struck 46 fours compared to Taylor's 32 but the left-hander wasn't afraid of a little one-upmanship when the pair got together in Adelaide a few months later.
"He sent me a letter ... saying 'congratulations on equalling my record and I'm delighted to be sharing the same score'," Taylor said. He invited me over for a chat and ... we went through all the numbers together and he scored them quicker and hit more boundaries.
"And I sort of said to him 'but Don, I actually hit one six' and I sounded very pleased with myself. And he said, 'Mark, I always kept the ball on the ground'."
Australia picked up an early wicket of Aamer Sohail but were thwarted by the brilliance of Saeed Anwar and Mushtaq Ahmed, who laid foundations for a strong Pakistan response. On a wicket that favoured the batsmen, Pakistan made 580-9 in reply to Australia’s 599 before declaring. The game eventually ended in a draw but it was best remembered for Taylor’s selfless act.
Australia may not have won the game but Taylor ensured he put his team’s interests over his own. On another pitch with a little help for bowlers, Taylor might have been rewarded for putting his team over personal accolades.
Apart from showing great leadership, Taylor also displayed great batsmanship following up his triple century with a knock of 92 in the second innings. In total, Taylor hist 43 boundaries and one six in the entire match in what has gone down as one of the finest batting performances in the history of the game.
Even as Matthew Hayden broke Taylor’s joint-record with Bradman a few years later (380 vs. Zimbabwe in 2003) and Lara extended his world record by smashing 400 runs (against England in 2004), Taylor’s feat in that 1998 Test against Pakistan at Peshawar stands tall. His innings of 334 will be as memorable for what he achieved during the course of the knock but also after it.
Only 16 months ago, former Australian cricket greats, such as the fast bowler, Dennis Lillee and former captains Greg and Ian Chappell, were telling Taylor that his career was over and that he should retire. He had gone for 20 consecutive innings without a half century and was in the worst slump of any Australian captain in history. However, the team remained successful, his players backed him and his form slowly returned, beginning with a century during the first Test at Headingley against England in 1996.
David Warner would surpass both men. Only one man in Australia's long Test history has made a higher score in a Test match than Warner's 335* at Adelaide Oval in 2019 against Pakistan. Such was Warner's dominance and rate of scoring in the innings, he was afforded the opportunity to pass Bradman and Mark Taylor's 334 to move to second behind Matthew Hayden's 380, while Australia were still able to win by an innings inside four days.
Pakistan's attack was not as weak as some would believe with Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah doing the bulk of the work. Warner marmalised them in the midst of a staggering run of form. It was his second consecutive score of over 150 and it came on the back of the worst series of his career, when he averaged 9.50 in the five-match Ashes series just months earlier.
Taylor's decision is admirable. He put the interests of the team ahead of his own. Everyone should follow his example. This applies to everyone, even outside of sport. The key message is loud and clear. You shouldn't let your interests interfere with a larger goal that has been set.