Another honour for Waugh

Australia's Test captain Steve Waugh received another honour today, but this time it was off the field, when he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

The award was not only for his services to Australian cricket, but also in recognition of his charity work for the Udayan orphanage in India.

Waugh is now Australia's most-capped player (160 Tests), and the scorer of most Test centuries for them with 30, and this award is the latest in a string of achievements in his long career.

Waugh, who inspired Australia's complete dominance of the world game, both in Tests and ODIs, has seen to it that the respect for all that Australian cricket represents has been maintained through the modern era of players. Few players have a feel for the game's past as Waugh does, and this latest honour is a reflection of the role he has played in ensuring the flame is carried from that past to the future not only on the field but in the maintenance of the game's traditions.

He is joined on the Australian Honours List this year by former West Indian international Sir Garfield Sobers, who had strong links with Australia in the 1960s while he played for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Former internationals Norman O'Neill and Peter Philpott also received the Medal of the Order of Australia, as did a brace of administrators in David Richards, who recently stood down as chief executive of the International Cricket Council, and John Mitchell, the former Melbourne Cricket Club president.