Taylor’s ‘chat’ steered Clarke back into form

MELBOURNE - Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has revealed that he had lent advice to Michael Clarke during the batsman’s desperate battle to regain form.

Clarke has made 54 and 82 in his last ODI outings, which follows his disastrous average of 21.5 in the five-Test Ashes series against England.

The 29-year-old had scored only 70 runs at an average of 17.50 in the first four ODIs of the ongoing seven-match series against England.

Taylor admitted that he was in contact with Clarke, but insisted that the stand-in captain had managed to turn things around through hard work.

“We’ve probably been in touch for three or four years now. I occasionally talk to him and he talks to me about a few things. We’ve chatted a couple of times over the last two or three weeks,” the Herald Sun quoted Taylor, as saying.

“At the end of the day it really comes down to the individual. You can offer as much advice as you like, but at the end of the day it comes down to you as an individual finding your way through the maze.”

“Some people like to do less and try to get away from the game, which is very difficult these days, other people like Michael like to work harder and harder and he’s done that and he’s got through it,” he added. (ANI)