'India will be a force for a long time to come'

It's been a career beyond compare, and with the finishing line in sight, Stephen Waugh insisted that he wouldn't be doing anything different in preparation for the Sydney Test. "It's been a pretty relaxed time," he said, "and it's mostly been about fine-tuning mentally and getting away from it all. I've been doing all the normal stuff I've been doing for ten years, don't want to change that now."

With vocal support expected inside a stadium he reckoned had the best atmosphere of any ground in the world, Waugh said he and his team needed to draw on the goodwill and enjoy the occasion. Twelve months ago, he made a magnificent hundred on the second day, even though Australia eventually lost a dead rubber to England. "I played well, and the team lost," he said pithily. "We'll be hoping to change that." He added that he didn't feel much different in the build-up, saying, "It will hit home only when I walk away for the last time, I guess. For now, I feel very much a part of the team."

Waugh welcomed the pressure that goes with this Test being the series decider, saying, "It's a good thing. The guys are on the edge for this game. With dead rubbers, it's not quite the same, with nothing hinging on the outcome. The guys are ready for this."

He rated the nine-wicket victory at Melbourne as one of his team's best ever, and suggested that India had the potential to be Australia's biggest rivals over the coming years. "The platform's there for that," he said. "The last two series between the teams have been phenomenal. India will be a force for a long time to come. I'm hoping the tradition will grow. In time, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will hopefully be as famous as the Ashes."

Australia wouldn't decide on their playing eleven till the morning of the game, though it was fairly certain that both Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie would be first picks in the race for fast-bowling places. "If I was Indian, they would be the two bowlers I didn't want to face," said Waugh, despite both men having struggled with injuries in the recent past.

Waugh reckoned that his legacy would be leaving behind a formidable side, one that had the potential to go on to greater glory under Ricky Ponting. "I'd like to think I've helped every player in the side in some way. I'm sure Ricky will do a great job, he's a natural leader, and a player at the peak of his powers." He added, though, that captaincy did take its toll. "As a captain, I think five years is about the maximum. It's a huge effort. If you look around international cricket now, Stephen Fleming's probably the only exception."

He suggested that Ponting would go on to be one of Australia's greatest players - "he'll be Australia's greatest run-scorer and century maker" - and that Matthew Hayden too had the potential to do the same provided he carried on a few more years.

As for his own career, he said that he was proudest of the fact that he had hobbled his way to a century at the Oval in 2001, after 19 days of physiotherapy had paved the way for an astonishing farewell to Test cricket in England. "It's the things you do to get on the park that stick in your mind the most," he said. As for team highlights, he pointed out Bridgetown last year, when Australia thrashed the West Indies on an unhelpful track, and also the Johannesburg Test of 2001-2002 - "The best I've ever seen a side play".

He also pleaded for patience when it came to players new to the side. "When I started, I didn't think I'd last a second week. The early days were a real struggle. I didn't score a hundred till my 27th Test. Even Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne took their time to settle. Few come in and do well straight away. Most take 10-15 Tests to settle in."

Waugh insisted that there was no real sadness associated with leaving. "I've been lucky. You look at guys like Jamie Siddons and Darren Berry who never played a Test match. I've had 168 of them. I've been able to travel, meet some great people, experience other cultures. It's nothing to be sad about."

While he might say that, 40,000-odd spectators who throng to the Sydney Cricket Ground tomorrow will most likely feel differently. If you're faint of heart, or not one for the emotional occasion - sniffling into the hanky/red rag - it would be best to stay away. But for thousands of people across the world, no matter which team they support, there will be a weird feeling in the pit of the stomach when Stephen Rodger Waugh leads his team out for the last time. And for some, there'll be a lump the size of a cricket ball in the throat.