A career to celebrate

As a one-day cricketer, it cannot be said that Steve Waugh equalled his status as Test cricket's pre-eminent batsman. Whereas for the majority of the 1990s Waugh was the fulcrum of his side's Test, batting at No. 5 in the one-day team, after age and injury saw his all-rounder role diminish, he mainly played a supporting role. Of course, this was chiefly due to the inherently limiting nature of batting in the middle order in one-day cricket. While the nature of the game makes stars of those who bat in the top three, the opportunity for substantial contributions from five or below is relatively scarce.

With Mark Waugh opening, Ricky Ponting at three and Michael Bevan the middle order maestro and master finisher, the make-up of the Australian team meant Waugh was most often a dependable, experienced contributor rather than superstar. While one of Waugh's attributes in Test cricket was the price he placed on his wicket, in one-day cricket it was just the opposite: the archetypal team man, he was always prepared to sacrifice his wicket in pursuit of quick runs, which with Australia's line-up was often the case. An industrious 40 was a typical Waugh offering, before he went down swinging.

Statistics really don't do Waugh justice at one-day level, except for number of games played: the Australian record 325, in a career spanning 16 years, is testament to his longevity, endurance and class. The only player, along with Tom Moody, to be part of both the 1987 and 1999 winning World Cup squads, if Waugh had his way he would have become the only player to be part of victories in 1987, 1999 and 2003. But nobody lasts forever and, in the end, the selectors got him when they opted for generational change after a rare failure at home.

We have to be content with the memories, foremost of which is the 1999 World Cup. Waugh only scored three career hundreds and it is the second of these which will ultimately obscure most other aspects of his one-day career, and understandably so.

Consider: It is Australia's final Super Six game, which they must win to reach the semi-finals, and after conceding 271 a rampant South Africa has them on the mat at 48/3. In steps Steve Waugh, who after consolidating with Ricky Ponting, launches a stunning calculated assault on South Africa's bowlers. For the importance of the match and the situation of the game, it is acclaimed as the greatest ever one-day innings. Waugh finishes 120 not out; Australia win with two balls to spare, go on to oust South Africa in an even more famous semi-final tie, and execute perfectly to demolish Pakistan in the final. In the process, a captain is made.

Waugh arguably made his most important contribution to Australia's one-day cricket as captain, and the start to the leadership phase of his career was rough. After the shock loss to Sri Lanka in the final of the '96 World Cup under Taylor, Australia went through a trough, as Sri Lanka's revolutionary tactics of attacking inside the first 15 overs left them somewhat behind.

The Bob Simpson method of establishing a solid foundation and taking singles before hitting out at the end was no longer quite good enough.

Between the end of the '96 World Cup and the start of the 1997/'98 season, Australia lost 18 of 27 games, losing tri-series tournaments in Sri Lanka and India, missing the finals of the '96/'97 home series involving Pakistan and West Indies, and being swept 3-0 by England. This period encompassed Mark Taylor's horrendous form slump and, heading into the '97/'98 home series with New Zealand and South Africa, it was decided something had to be done. Under instructions to pick their best one-day side, the selectors sacked captain Taylor and stalwart keeper Ian Healy, inducting Adam Gilchrist as keeper and appointing Steve Waugh captain -- Australia's Test and one-day teams had been controversially split.

Waugh and his new team struggled terribly in that first tournament. Waugh registered scores of 1, 7, 0, 0, 4, 0 and 45 not out in his initial games in charge to come under immense pressure for his position as Australia, searching for its identity and the right combinations, fell into the finals with a 3-5 win-loss record against the 7-1 South Africans. Waugh reportedly offered to resign if the selectors felt he was not the right man for the job.

Having tried Michael Di Venuto, Stuart Law, Jimmy Maher and Tom Moody as Mark Waugh's new opening partner without success, Waugh was to make one of the most inspired decisions of his career when, just prior to the first final in
Melbourne, he elected to open with Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist only scored 20 from 27 balls before holing out in that game, as Australia lost their last five wickets for 14 to crash to defeat by 6 runs, but he made an impression.

In the second final, Gilchrist blasted his first hundred from 104 balls as Australia cruised by seven wickets, and in the third Waugh made 71 as Australia took the trophy. His position and nascent captaincy saved, the standard had been set.

Following that series, Australia went 24-12-1 under Waugh leading up to the World Cup, including series or tournament wins in India, Pakistan (which included a then-record chase of 316) and at home. It was not entirely smooth
progress, with drawn series in New Zealand and West Indies and a loss to India at the ICC Knockout, but the team had been successfully transformed and was back among the leading nations. Waugh brought an attacking edge: in addition to the explosive Gilchrist giving Australia firepower at the top, Waugh was unafraid to back his bowlers and set attacking fields in pursuit of wickets.

It is easy, amid the present seriousness of World Cup planning, to forget that Australia were unsettled both tactically and in terms of personnel heading into the last World Cup: Glenn McGrath bowled first change in the first three games and Shane Lee was the preferred all-rounder for the first two. Australia then stacked its batting by including Martyn against Pakistan, with disastrous results, before turning to orthodoxy on the brink of elimination by giving McGrath the new ball and making Tom Moody the all-rounder.

The deciding group game against the West Indies provided a perfect example of Waugh's calculating professionalism. With the competition rules meaning it was to Australia's benefit to see West Indies progress ahead of New Zealand,
Waugh deliberately engineered a go-slow to avoid damaging West Indies' run rate, stonewalling for around 20 overs to get the last 20 runs. The tactic received intense criticism but as Waugh wrote in his diary, Australia's job was to win the World Cup, not friends.

In hindsight, it is ironic that Waugh's tactics were endorsed by New Zealand's Stephen Fleming, captain of the team he was attempting to oust, who said he would have done the same thing. Three years later, that's exactly what he did: New Zealand's deliberate concession of a bonus point to South Africa helped ensure Australia missed the finals of last season's one-day series, which at least in part led to Waugh's sacking.

Even as Waugh prepared for the final Super Six clash with South Africa, all was not well within the Australian camp. After being belted by India and Zimbabwe, Shane Warne announced his retirement to the team, and had to be talked out of it. This, of course, followed earlier reports of a rift between Waugh and Warne.

As he took guard to face his first ball against South Africa, with Australia staring at defeat, Waugh recalled in his diary, "No Regrets," that he told himself: "You've played one-day cricket for 14 years and this is not the time to end it. There's some unfinished business to be done." 120 runs later, the first part of it was complete.

"I know that one-day international hundreds don't come along too often when you are batting five or six," Waugh wrote. "Making one under the kind of pressure I was under today is something I have dreamt of doing. I always thought I could play that sort of innings in one-day cricket -- it's something you work for your entire career. But it's only when you put yourself on the line and then come out on top, that you truly know you are good enough."

In the semi-final, Australia were 68/4 after 17 overs before Waugh played another crucial hand, scoring 56 in a partnership of 90 with Michael Bevan.

"Bevo and I took it to the South Africans and put it back in their faces once again," Waugh wrote, Bevan's 65 enabling Australia to reach 213.

The rest is history. South Africa cruised to 48/0 before Warne turned the game with the wickets of Kirsten, Gibbs and Cronje. Kallis and Rhodes fought back, Australia struck again, and the mayhem and many pivotal moments in the final overs concluded with Donald being run-out, the tie sending Australia through.

"All the emphasis we had placed on team spirit, staying positive and backing each other would prove crucial" in the final few deliveries, Waugh recounted.

There would be no repeat of 1996, when a miraculous semi-final victory over the West Indies was followed by defeat to Sri Lanka, as Australia saved its best, most complete performance for last.

"We're all agreed -- our effort in the final was the best all-round performance in one-day international cricket since we began the Road to Lord's a long 18 months ago," Waugh wrote. "All the planning went perfectly on the day. Eighteen months to the day after we set our goals for winning the World Cup and how we wanted to play, we achieved our dream." The "No Regrets Tour," as Waugh labelled it, indeed had none.

Until last season, Waugh's success as one-day skipper continued more or less uninterrupted. He was in charge of a record 14-game unbeaten streak in 1999/'00, swept through the 2000/'01 home series against the West Indies and Zimbabwe undefeated, won the one-day series in India, and triumphed over England and Pakistan in England. His own form through that period remained consistent, averaging 39.41.

Then came the 2001/'02 series against New Zealand and South Africa. After Australia's failure to qualify for the finals, Waugh was dropped from the team to South Africa, the selectors "looking to the World Cup", "moving in another direction" and feeling "there are better batsmen ahead of him," which all sounded like code for "you're too old".

This harsh decision caused uproar, with the majority believing the selectors had erred. The issue was inflamed again nine months later when Waugh was left out of a provisional squad for the World Cup. Ultimately, the type of surprise change that saw Waugh ascend to the one-day captaincy was also responsible for his downfall. Instead of bitterness, a celebrated limited-overs career deserves praise.