Time for one captain, says Australian Board

MELBOURNE, April 8: Mark Taylor's international cricket future was looking increasingly uncertain here today with the Australian Cricket Boa...

MELBOURNE, April 8: Mark Taylor’s international cricket future was looking increasingly uncertain here today with the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) expressing a wish for one captain for both the Test and limited-over sides.ACB chief executive Malcolm Speed said here today the dual captaincy issue would be discussed when Australia’s one-day side returned from India this month.

Speed said the meeting would comprise board members, national selectors, Test skipper Mark Taylor and one-day leader Steve Waugh.

The two teams selection policy has been a contentious issue in Australian cricket with Taylor, regarded as one of Australia’s

most successful Test captains, returning home last week from India and describing as unsatisfactory the position of having separate captains.

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He said he was reassessing his future over the winter months.

“Ideally, there would be one captain, I don’t think anyone argues with that,” Speed said at a luncheon.

“And ideally there would be minimal difference between the twoteams.”“Ultimately, the objective is to have one captain of the two teams but we need to work through that.”

Speed described as a dilemma the board having to pick up a limited overs skipper after Taylor was dropped from the one-day team.

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“When the selectors pick the one-day team, and given their directive to pick the best team to win that match or that series, recently they haven’t selected Mark Taylor,” he said.

“So the board faces the dilemma of picking a captain for a team which doesn’t include Mark Taylor.”

“Stephen Waugh has been chosen to be captain of that team and I think given time, he will prove to be very successful captain,” he said.