Ken Piesse - The Taylor Years: Australian Cricket, 1994-99

KEN PIESSE

THE TAYLOR YEARS

AUSTRALIAN CRICKET 199499

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Acknowledgements

Im one of the fortunate ones who happen to love their job. Sitting through five days of riveting cricket in Barbados and Antigua in 1999 and sharing the highs and lows with 2000 Australians who had also made the big trip was a position of privilege and a springboard to the publication of this book.

It has been a glorious decade for Australian cricket, in which the interest in the game and the national team has snowballed. Australias status as Test and one-day world champions is well deserved.

My particular thanks to Ian Healy for contributing the foreword and to Ken Williams for his expert statistical appraisals.

Many others, on tour, in conversations and interviews throughout the period have also participated. In particular, my thanks to Wendy and Shane Aston, David Boon, Wayne Carey, Greg Chappell, Kevin Chevell, Alan Crompton, Kevin Dale, Ross Dundas, Craig Dunshea, Jack Edwards, Ric Finlay/TCPro, Damien Fleming, John Fordham, Brian Freedman, Graham Gooch, Graham Halbish, Austin Hughes, Terry Jenner, Len King, Bill Lawry, Stuart MacGill, Neil Marks, Geoff Marsh, Tim May, Glenn McGrath, Bob Merriman, Bob Parish, Peter Philpott, Rod Pilon, Denis Rogers, Michael Slater, Peter Taylor, Tony & Judy Taylor, Ross Turner and Steve and Mark Waugh.

Id also like to thank Robert Sessions, Katie Purvis, Peter Ascot and everyone at Penguin for their confidence in the project.

Foreword By Ian Healy

Greg Chappell once said you pay the price for success in advance. Nothing could be truer when it comes to the unprecedented record of the Australian cricket team in the 90s. Having built the foundation under Allan Border, whose leadership in the toughest possible climate should never be underrated, we became the worlds best under Mark Taylor and as we approach the year 2000, remain No. 1 under Steve Waugh.

The balance of a world-championship team is crucial and the core players of the side have a hard edge and have performed when needed. I dont know if many of the other sides train like Australia; we rarely see them. But the work ethic and the effort is very important and it does pay off. There are no short cuts taken and no substitute for hard work.

Its the Australian way and one which should always bethough it may pay us to keep an eye on other sides and what is coming through, especially the South Africans. A little spying to see how they are working wouldnt go astray!

It has been a demanding and highly challenging era times Ill always regard as the greatest of my life. To be part of one of the most successful Australian teams of all time is a position of privilege. Under Mark, our wins in Jamaica in 95 and Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth in 97 were nothing short of sensational.

The Windies, unbeaten at home for 20 years, had evened the series on one of the greenest wickets wed ever seen at Port-of-Spain, setting up a last-man-standing showdown at Jamaica. The Waugh partnership really took us out of their reach and then our bowlers did the rest. Stephens 200 remains the best innings Ive seen in Test cricket. Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara have also played some gems, but Stephens was the one which had most impact on me. He was peppered by the short stuff and had to jump and weave for most of the 10 hours he batted. It was a magnificent feat of endurance and without it, we could never have won as comprehensively. We partied like world champions should and seeing Stephen, still in all his playing gear including his baggy green, with that Charlie Chaplin walk of his trying to find a door which matched his room key that night remains an enduring memory, as does Justin Langer proudly draping himself in an Australian flag all night.

At Port Elizabeth, having started the series with such impact at Johannesburg, the South Africans were really coming at us and looking to square the series 11. The wicket was doing plenty and theyd established a 184-run lead with all 10 second innings wickets in hand. With three days still to play, a result was assured. It wasnt going to be a draw. That night we met and re-emphasised what we needed to do. None of us could have imagined what was to happen the next day. We took 10 for 85 and they set us 270 to winand we finished up getting them through a great century from Mark Waugh, at the time the best Id ever seen from Mark. My winning six capped it off nicely for me. It was a great atmosphere afterwards and prelude to another absolutely outstanding party!

I was Marks deputy captain in that period and for that Im very proud. The vice-captaincy role probably suited me the best, especially in an era when Australias attack was so heavily biased towards spin. For wicketkeepers, Test match cricket is so much harder than one-dayers, especially when the team is under pressure and the batsmen are getting on top. The keeper needs to be right on his mettle and work as hard as he can on his job, and that isnt easy on flat wickets with spin bowlers operating for long periods. Shane Warnes genius helped put me on the map and for that Im thankful, but it was still bloody hard work! And I wouldnt mind a dollar for every time I said, Bowled, Shane!

I was always genuinely thrilled to be given any leadership role and the opportunity to captain the team on the Sri Lanka and South African one-day tours in 199697 remains a big highlight for me. Our team was very powerful, very united and very switched on, which had a lot to do with Marks handling of players and his open lines of communication. He was constantly setting us challenges, seeing just how far we could go.

There were some that got away from us, but not many and thats to Marks great credit. He always wanted us to play our natural games and to enjoy it along the way.

There were some difficult periods for him as a batsman and I have no doubt that the captaincy sapped his energy. But throughout all of those 50 Tests as captain, he gave great confidence to the rest of the side and had an evenness and confidence in all situations.

People have often asked me could we have been as good if Mark hadnt been captain. I would never say that anyone else would have done the job that Mark did, but what we may have lost in his captaincy, we would have picked up in his batting.