Time to Declare

Time to Declare tells with unflinching candour Mark Taylor's story in a fascinating and revealing autobiography. Taking block, Taylor throws new light on the highs and lows, the controversies and the triumphs of a truly remarkable sporting career. By the end of his journey, which included 104 Tests for his country, 7525 runs, and 157 catches, he stood acclaimed as the 'second most important person in the land'. At the close of Australia's century there can be no finer story of grit and perseverance and inspiration than that of Mark Taylor – captain of his country. Mark Taylor's majestic 334 in a Test match in Peshawar, Pakistan in October 1998 was the last great peak in a cricket career that fluctuated like no other. The innings, ground out over twelve gruelling hours amid the heat and dust, linked Australia's captain, forever, with the greatest of them all – Sir Donald Bradman. For Mark Anthony Taylor, the boy from Leeton, that match of magnificent coincidence was also the beginning of the end. Within months he ws gone from the game, leaving as he had played – with quiet style and dignity, amid a welter of national emotion and affection as Prime Minister John Howard crowned him 'Australian of the Year'. Stretching behind him is a wonderful Australian story – of an unpretentious youngster who first played the game of cricket on rough backyard pitches in New South Wales country towns, and who grew from those modest beginnings to become one of the game's most loved players – and one if its greatest captains.