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Selectors baying for Steve's blood now

By Ted Corbett

MELBOURNE Dec. 23. Steve Waugh is such an honourable man that if he felt he was no longer fit for Test cricket he would step down; but he wants to be captain of Australia, it is only four Tests since he last scored a century and his catch to get rid of England tailender, Richard Dawson, was one of the most athletic of the Ashes series.

Yet, the selectors have made it clear that they want him to step down. They have told him that they will support him throughout the last two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney but that afterwards he will only be captain if they consider him to be one of the top six batsmen in the country.

The message could not be clearer. They are asking Waugh to go after 154 Tests so that Ricky Ponting, 10 years his junior, can step into the biggest job in Australian sport. By the end of the fifth Test at the SCG — his home ground — Waugh will be 37 years and 219 days old.

Ray Illingworth, one of the finest England captains of the post-war era, was 37 years and four days old when he first led a Test side on June 12 1969. Illingworth kept the job for four years.

The contrast between the attitude towards age in Australia and England could not be clearer. Mark Taylor was virtually asked to stand down when he was 34, four years ago — he is only a year older than Waugh — and Allan Border considered a dinosaur when he led Australia until he was 38 and had to be dragged out by the back door.

Australia's wish to be rid of Waugh is strange enough. It also appears to have turned against him because he has made such a firm stand against the suggestions that he is living on borrowed time. It is all mixed up with his omission from the World Cup probables and the subsequent need for him to be added to the squad now that Shane Warne has been injured and unlikely to play.

That is a separate issue but it is likely to be resolved at about the same time as the captaincy; as the New Year's day Test begins in Sydney. I cannot understand why the Australians — led by their newspaper columnists and television stations — now decry Waugh.

From the moment he began his Test life against India in 1985-86 he has been one of the most honest and straightforward of all cricketers. He first came to my notice right at the beginning of his career when, after winning a one-day man of the match award, he was asked if he did not regret his comparative failures at Test level.

"I am still playing for my country and I still give everything I have,'' he said. "To me there is no difference between a one-day international and a Test.'' He has maintained that scrupulous attitude ever since.

Last summer in England he declined to use a runner when many other batsmen would have demanded one. "I don't believe in runners,'' he said and endured the pain of his calf muscle injury throughout a long innings, took one Test to recover and then insisted on resuming even though he could hardly have been fully fit.

So, it is my belief that if he thought he was past his best he would step down. Nothing I have seen in this exceptional cricketer — even chairman Hohns kept calling him an icon when he last discussed the captaincy — makes me think he would want to go on if he knew his playing days were numbered.

Waugh has too much pride, too much concern for his team and too many successes in the past to wish to outstay his welcome. After all, he still averages nearly 50 in 154 Tests with 9,840 runs, and he is 20th in the world and sixth of that formidable Australian batting line-up according to the latest rankings listed below. I would be sorry to see him go, although I have no doubt that Ponting will prove to be an imaginative and responsible captain and that the next six months in the World Cup and the West Indies will bring out the best in him.

But if Waugh wants revenge against India that ought to be reason enough to keep him in place. Sadly, that is clearly not going to happen.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Test ratings (including Hamilton Test):

Batsmen (Rank (Change), Player, Team, Points, Average): 1 (-) Matthew Hayden (Aus) 928 53.14; 2 (-) Ricky Ponting (Aus) 864 49.35; 3=3d (-) S.R. Tendulkar (Ind) 843 57.58 and (+1) Jacques Kallis (RSA) 843 50.00; 5 (-) Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 842 57.95; 6 (-) Michael Vaughan (Eng) 820 47.71; 7 (-) Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pak) 818 49.52; 8 (-) Brian Lara (WI) 796 49.49; 9=3d (-) Damien Martyn (Aus) 792* 49.64; (+1) Rahul Dravid (Ind) 792 53.46; 11 (-) H.H. Gibbs (RSA) 762 41.86; 12=3D (-) Andy Flower (Zim) 758 51.54; (-) M. Jayawardene (Sri) 758 47.87; (-) K.C. Sangakkara (Sri) 758 48.05; 15 (-) Mark Richardson (NZ) 728* 47.17; 16 (-) S. Chanderpaul (WI) 727 44.29; 17 (-) Yousuf Youhana (Pak) 716 49.11; 18 (-) M.E. Trescothick (Eng) 713 41.13; 19 (-) Justin Langer (Aus) 700 42.89; 20 (-) Steve Waugh (Aus) 697 49.39.

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