A fifty for the Waugh brothers
A walk down memory lane, with the Guardian, when the Waugh brothers worked in a sports goods store while climbing through the ranks of Australian domestic cricket
02-Jun-2015
On Steve and Mark Waugh's 50th birthdays, the Guardian looks back on their early years in cricket, which coincided with a stint at a sports goods store owned by Harry Solomons. The Waugh brothers are still "boys" for Solomons, who says they weren't the greatest of workers, but were hell-bent on cricket.
"I ended up out the back in the warehouse," Mark once told cricket writer Mark Gately. "I used to go to sleep in this huge, big box. I used to curl up and have a nap in there." Steve would term his work-day approach as "looking busy, doing little," but more importantly working at Kingsgrove gave the young prospects plenty of time to hone their skills.
"They were both not the greatest of workers," Solomons laughs. "They did their job but they were just hell-bent on cricket you know, you could see it in them. All they wanted to do was play cricket. I think they just both very well knew that they would make it to the next level and into the Australian side. Mark was very laid back. Steve was a lot more intense."