The Australian captain spurned the opportunity to surpass Sir Donald Bradman's legendary innings of 334 against England in 1930 (or, indeed, to go on and break Brian Lara's Test world record of 375) by declaring against Pakistan in Peshawar in order to give his team a better chance of winning the second Test. Taylor explained his decision not to continue batting while on 334 not out by saying: ``It will be nice to be bracketed with Sir Donald. It will be my only chance to be compared with him.''

Taylor's unselfish decision was above and beyond the call of duty, for few could have criticised him returning to the wicket for the short time it would have undoubtedly taken him to reach the historical Australian mark of 335. In an age of selfishness, Taylor fully merited this tribute from Australian coach Geoff Marsh: ``He is one of the greatest team men of all time. Everyone wanted him to bat on, but he put us before his own records.''

``I'm no hero,'' insists Taylor. Oh, yes, you are, cobber . . .