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Cricketer extraordinaire
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Steve Waugh, a cricketer of exceptional character, transcends all barriers by sheer grit and determination. He has redefined success with a touch of class and consistency. Waugh's indefatigable spirit and performance in the last 17 years will assure him of a special place in the history of the game, writes V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM.
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LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Waugh has come up with match-winning innings time and again.
THE GENIUS of Ramnaresh Sarwan and the unusual flamboyance of Shivnaraine Chanderpual may have denied the Australian captain, Steve Waugh, a piece of cricketing history to become the first ever to hand out a clean sweep for the Caribbeans in a home series. But, even as the West Indians are celebrating what could arguably be the greatest Test win for them in the post-Clive Lloyd era, no one can dispute that Steve Waugh is a cricketer extraordinaire - an exceptional character who always thrived in a crisis and gave a new dimension to the art of batting when his team was written off in a contest.
The Australians seem to have mastered the highly difficult art of handling things even as some of their best cricketers are missing the action or even fail to rise to the occasion in a given Test match situation. And, when they created history by being the first team to beat in all the three Tests in a series the Brian Lara-led West Indians, it may not have surprised many. For, they always displayed their awesome strength in similar situations when most of the Test nations would have chosen the route to safety. The credit obviously goes to the eternal warrior - Steve Waugh.
The great Australian(161 Tests, 10200-plus runs, 30 centuries, 91 wickets, 49.65 avg) by now should be assured of a place in cricket's `Hall of Fame'. His entry into the elite group of all-time greats of the sport is indisputable. For no fault of his, he had to repeatedly prove a point or two and had to make a mockery of his critics who never hesitate to write him off, particularly on the home front. Mind you, he was virtually on trial even to find a place for the current Caribbean tour and thanks to a brilliant century against England in the last Ashes Test he was given the rare option to decide for himself whether he is good enough to hang on for some more time. And, Waugh demonstrated his efficacy in no uncertain terms. No doubt, he is enjoying leading arguably the best team in recent memory - the last one of that calibre being the one led by Clive Lloyd between 1974 and 1984 when the team didn't lose even a single Test series. Now, only Allan Border is ahead of Waugh in terms of scoring runs in Test cricket for Steve Waugh just slipped past India's batting legend, Sunil Gavaskar, in that list.
It is increasingly becoming clearer that the gutsy Australian captain transcends all barriers by sheer grit and determination. His ability to wriggle out from adversity should make some of the more highly-rated celebrities in contemporary cricket think twice whether they really deserve all those accolades. For Waugh, it seems to have become a favourite pastime. And his century against West Indies in the third Test on what he himself rated as the slowest pitch he had ever played in 160 Tests sends the message loud and clear - please don't write him off for he is here to stay on for some more time.
WINNING WAYS: Steve Waugh
Perhaps, no one else deserved the right to surpass Sir Donald Bradman's Australian record of 29 Test hundreds than Steve Waugh. Sunil Gavaskar may be right when he said after eclipsing Sir Bradman's record in the 1983 series incidentally against West Indians, that "people will always remember Tenzing Norgay as the first one to scale Mt. Everest and tend to forget those who followed him later.'' But the current Australian captain is an exception. It would be naive to ignore the heart-breaking competitive circuit in which Waugh rose to the highest level in a team which was studded with some of the best known batsmen in contemporary sport for quite a long time. To focus on one's batting with such phenomenal consistency and at the same time to be now the most successful captain along with Lloyd in the game's history is something which others can now only dream off. The simple fact that Australia wrapped up the third Test against West Indies even as the world's best fast bowler, Glen McGrath, was wicketless (only the third time in his career) bears testimony to the way Waugh leads under trying circumstances. It is not all that easy to lead a team which has such superstars like McGrath, Shane Warne, the flamboyant Adam Gilchrist and the temperamental Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. Certainly, he may have erred badly by not having a third-man during that famous West Indian world record-breaking chase (418 to win), and again he was trying to attack a bit too much.
There can always be a debate whether Waugh sometimes takes the art of sledging a bit too far. But, he seems to enjoy winning by making things difficult, on the psychological front, for the best of the cricketers. By this, he spurs his team mates to raise their level of game by such incidents for they make doubly determined. The best part of Steve Waugh is the way the entire team puts its heart out to complement the captain's indefatigable spirit to excel with the solitary objective of winning the game. It is Steve Waugh who saw to that even newcomers realise the importance in mastering the art of winning matches. The seriousness with which they approach the task on hand is something which many other teams should not hesitate to learn. Proof of this is the way Waugh was padded up even as Australia needed just eight runs to win the third Test and lost opener Justin Langer. This shows that Waugh means business and there is no scope for any theatrics in the serious world of cricket battles.
The day may not be far off when this senior statesman hands over the legacy of not just Test captaincy, to the prince in waiting - Ricky Ponting. And, what else can any aspirant hope for than taking the baton from such a celebrated personality who redefined success even in a team sport like cricket with a touch of class and consistency.
By all means, Steve Waugh will have a special place - his own - in the history of sport by the sheer weight of his performances over the last 17 years.
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