Ex-captain Taylor calls for need to re-build 'team feeling' to improve Oz leadership 'core'

Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor has said that there is a need to re-instill 'team feeling' among Australian players, adding that although Australia's leadership structure is not 'totally out of order', but there is a need for a fast improvement in it.

Taylor has been returned to the Cricket Australia (CA) board as an independent delegate for the New South Wales (NSW) board and has set as one of his priorities helping rebuild the 'team feeling' that has been weakened by the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, The Age reports.

Stating that he will use his position as a board director to try and rebuild the 'team feeling' and leadership group, Taylor said that he hoped that captain Michael Clarke and other players would help him in this process, adding that sometimes it is good to have inputs from outsiders.

Stating that the incident in a Birmingham nightclub that left David Warner suspended until the first Ashes Test should not be blown out of proportion, Taylor agreed that the exits of Ponting and Hussey had hurt the Australian set-up in a leadership context.

Taylor further said that it is necessary to find the core players of the team to fulfill the challenge of the leadership group, which although not 'totally out of order', however, does needs improvement, adding that it is now upto the likes of Shane Watson, Peter Siddle and Brad Haddin to step up and form the leadership core.

According to Taylor, Australia's biggest challenge is that they do not have the necessary core of senior players together all the time to set the example for the younger players, adding that nowadays the sides are split-up with the Australia A team playing over in England, the one-day side in the ICC Champions Trophy and other players joining in at different times.

Meanwhile, the appointment of Taylor was welcomed by Cricket NSW chairman John Warn, who said that the move would allow them to move into a new generation of leadership and governance, and added that they are lucky to be able to appoint someone like Taylor as he has integrity, knowledge and standing in the cricket world.

The long-serving CA board member lost his position when it was stripped back to include only one director from each of the six states as part of a restructure that began earlier in 2012, the report added.