australian captain Mark Taylor pulled up the stumps on his distinguished Test career yesterday, saying he was starting to ''lose his edge to compete.''

He announced his retirement from international cricket to great acclaim by reporters who attended a news conference in Sydney.

Yet, less than two years previously, many of those journalists had probably been among the clamour of Australian voices calling for his head.

At Edgbaston in early June 1997, when his form was locked in a downward spin, Taylor reached the lowest point of his Test career as the scoreboard read: caught Butcher, bowled Malcolm 7.

Had he quietly walked away from the job, as he was seriously contemplating during that reflective slope back to the pavilion, it would have been widely seen in his homeland as the proper thing to do.

The run-starved Taylor mused that if a decent score eluded him in the second innings of that Ashes Test he would probably step down.

True to the ability and heart of the man from the New South Wales country town of Wagga Wagga, he made a hundred, though in a losing cause.

The highlight of Taylor's international career came on his first tour of England in 1989, when he amassed 839 runs, at an average of 83.90, in Australia's 4-0 victory which regained the Ashes.

The left-hander went on to accumulate 7525 runs in 104 Tests, as well as being one of Test cricket's finest slip fielders and an expert tactician.

England captain Alec Stewart said: ''He's the best captain I've played with or against. His record tells you that - tremendous. A top fellow, and a top player, and one of the best catchers I've seen.

''He plays the game the way it should be played, hard and fair. A very good tactician. He's certainly going out on a high.

''I've got a lot of time for him, I get on well with him and respect him. He was under the cosh going into the Ashes series in 1997 and he scored that hundred under pressure. That showed his strength of character.''

Taylor will now work for Channel 9 television and may go into cricket journalism in addition to doing public relations work.

Steve Waugh is the favourite to succeed Taylor for the Caribbean trip, while Shane Warne has his admirers after his imaginative captaincy in the day-night series. Taylor also reckons Mark Waugh would lead well from the front.

''I don't sit here sad, I sit here happy,'' said 34-year-old Taylor before the bank of television cameras.

''I achieved more from the game than I ever thought, as a player and a person, and enjoyed the challenge of being captain.

''I've made mistakes, I've had problems, had slumps, and good days. But I've gained more from cricket than I've given it.''