Channelling the intensity

Something was not quite right. He was still looking fairly sporty and cricket-like in a white T-shirt, so that wasn't it. He hadn't put on enough weight for it to show. He hadn't suddenly gone bald. But there was something about Steve Waugh that just didn't feel the same. Then, halfway through a forty-minute press conference, it became clear.

He was asked the familiar questions about chucking and Zimbabwe - he's answered them every single day for the last three. He was forced to duck questions about insurance - he's in India as brand ambassador for AMP Sanmar. And he got the usual share of inane questions, repeated questions and yet more repeated questions. But, he answered everything with more smiles than Jack Nicholson's joker in Batman. He cracked more jokes than Jay Leno. That was what felt out of place about Waugh.

The world of sport is a breeding ground for clichés and for long Waugh has been seen as a cussed old bugger, fighting till the very end. Brian Lara to bat for your pleasure, Sachin Tendulkar for your bank balance, and Stephen Rodger Waugh for your life, went one of the modern idioms. Scenes of Waugh coming in to bat, his team in trouble, being peppered with short-pitched deliveries, and him ducking, weaving, bobbing and fending, but never flinching, are etched in the minds of anyone who has watched Waugh over the last decade.

But where has all that intensity gone? "I have some intense games of cricket inside and outside the house with my four-year-old son. He's very competitive, like myself, but I'm really enjoying watching my kids do their thing. My oldest daughter does ballet, my son enjoys all sorts of sports," said Waugh, flashing 32 pearly-whites, naturally. "I've played a couple of games of golf and a little bit of tennis since I've retired and I'm looking at the possibility of playing a bit of soccer, so I do need an outlet. I'm going to have to stop taking it out on the kids and play with grown-ups shortly."

Some of the intensity may have gone, or be well hidden, but Waugh's views on the old enemy have hardly changed. When it was put to him that certain former English cricketers had suggested they were now the second-best team in the world, and might give Australia a run for its money in the next Ashes series, Waugh couldn't wait to answer the question. "You and I, we've all heard this before,"' he said shaking his head and grinning. But, when we thought he was going to stick it to the Poms one last time, he switched to elder-statesman mode.

"It's great to see England do well. For cricket to be a world force, England have got to be playing well, which they now are. Playing Australia is always a massive challenge for them. I think they've come into Ashes series in the past thinking they've got a chance to do well, but that hasn't happened. The next series is an opportunity for them, they have a chance, but at the moment I think Australia will be pretty confident."

Ricky Ponting certainly isn't short on confidence, and they might well continue their steamrolling ways for a whole yet, but, you can't help thinking it won't be the same without Waugh there to bail out Australia, red rag peeping out of his pocket, on the rare occasion when it's needed.