Mark Taylor

Adelaide: Mark Taylor has, over the years, worn many hats. A distinguished former captain and one of the finest openers of his time, Taylor is currently on the board of Cricket Australia besides being a regular on Channel Nine’s commentary team. On Friday, he spoke to The Telegraph on two aspects of the game — captaincy and opening the innings.

The following are excerpts

On Team India trying out three combinations, two being of a makeshift nature, in the four-Test series

Don’t think the Indians had much of a choice as Yuvraj Singh couldn’t have been left out at the start of the series... Getting Rahul Dravid to open in the first two Tests was probably the natural choice, though it wasn’t necessarily the best thing for Dravid himself...

On makeshift combinations

They can work.

On India’s move to recall Virender Sehwag, in the third Test

I’d expected him to play at the SCG too... He can, after all, give the innings momentum.

On Wasim Jaffer’s problem

He needs to work out the pace of his innings... He needs to look at getting singles and twos... He does need to do some work.

On Matthew Hayden having a new partner — Phil Jaques — in Tests from this season

They’ve formed an excellent partnership and while Jaques isn’t great on technique, he has the ability to switch on and off... He’s not the most attractive player, but can get quite aggressive... Once he gets on top, Jaques starts to score briskly.

On Hayden

Uses his feet very well against the spinners... The early 2001 tour to India proved a turning point and gave Matthew the belief that he could dominate irrespective of the conditions... He has grown much stronger since.

On a young opener with the most potential

England’s Alastair Cook... He already has a good technique, but is prepared to learn... He has a future...

On whether the openers’ approach has changed from the time he retired in early 1999

(Smiles) They’re certainly a lot more aggressive nowadays... The agenda today is to dominate from the start. Earlier, the openers would look to survive the first 15-20 overs... People want things to happen quickly and the openers are obliging.

On the qualities he looks for in an opener

A good technique, one that will help when the going isn’t good... Knowing where the off-stump is... Having the ability to rotate the strike which, today, is critical in the building of an innings... Eases pressure too... Also, I’d like openers to be tough in the mind and they should’ve the want to learn...

On the one quality he’d look for in captains

Not being afraid to lose... I mean, losing a Test can’t be the end of life for that captain... Test cricket isn’t war and I don’t like negative captains. (After a pause) It’s important to remember that captains don’t win (or lose) matches, the players do... The captain only has a role... A bit of pressure helps a captain bring the best out of his players.

On the other qualities a captain must have

The ability to understand his players, to read the game and to understand the opposition... It’s best that captains keep it simple and back themselves. Captains must think about winning.

On his favourite captains (in order of his choice)

Ian Chappell: The way he played his cricket caught my imagination... He’d be aggressive, positive... He hated to lose and was a proud Australian.

Allan Border: He was my first Test captain and had a very strong nature... Was very competitive and, much like Ian, hated to lose.

Ross Turner: One of my first captains in grade cricket... His man management would be very good and he had excellent communication skills.

Mohammed Azharuddin: The fields he set for spinners would be very good... He’d been captaining for some years before I did and I found those field settings imaginative and effective.

On any other captain who has impressed him in recent years

Stephen Fleming... He made New Zealand look better than they could’ve ever been... Also, he challenged better teams to beat his side. He didn’t have the fear of losing... I’d like to mention Michael Vaughan too, who out-thought Australia in the 2005 Ashes.

On Ricky Ponting

I wouldn’t say he had it easy when he had Glenn (McGrath) and Shane (Warne) around... After all, the pressure of having to win always remained... Understandably, now, the scrutiny on Ricky is enormous.

On Ian Chappell having started the Steve Waugh versus Ponting debate

(Laughs) I’d much rather stay out of it...Mate, let Ian do all the talking!

On why is there a reluctance to captain — Dravid stepped down, for example, and Sachin Tendulkar declined another innings

Probably because off the field activities take up too much time... There’s too much of work to be done with the media and the scrutiny is much more...

On why didn’t a Sachin be an outstanding captain

It’s funny that both Sachin and Brian Lara, the best batsmen of the past many years, didn’t make very good captains... Why, I don’t really know... Perhaps, the Sachins made the game tougher than it is.

Finally, his message for new captains

As I’ve said, enjoy the game and keep it simple... Cricket isn’t that complicated and don’t take captaincy too seriously... People say that the Australian captain has the second most important job after the Prime Minister’s, but I don’t agree.