Sentimental send-off not on Waugh's wish list

It would have been a nice way to finish. A century from the last ball of the day on your home ground in an Ashes Test but why retire for the sake of a nice finish?

That innings was to save Steve Waugh's Test career, not to make a hundred so he could pull the curtain down in style. He plays his best cricket when he comes to the wicket at three-for not many and when he has most on the line.

First of all, he had to make runs in Sharjah against Pakistan just so he would be picked for the Ashes. When Glenn McGrath came to the crease he was on 80. Two sixes and two fours later he had notched his century. Next over, McGrath was out.

Waugh had a patchy start to the Ashes series and batted awfully in Melbourne. With everything to play for in Sydney, he played the innings of his life.

He returned to captain his beloved Blues. On going back to the MCG, he batted with more style this time round in posting 204. He made his first hundred at the SCG against Queensland and then led NSW to the Pura Cup, their first four-day title in nine years.

Waugh still has a lot to achieve in the game. Four years ago, he took over the reins of the Australian captaincy from Mark Taylor. His first tour of duty as leader was to the Caribbean. After winning the first Test, Australia lost the next two in nail-biters. They rallied to win the last and tie it at 2-2. This time round, Waugh wants the series win.

He may even make it for his Waterloo; another tour of India, but that is still a long way off.

On a personal note, Waugh is on 10,039 Test runs, just 1136 behind Sunil Gavaskar. He also needs five hundreds to have the most Test centuries although Sachin Tendulkar would most certainly overtake him in both statistical categories.

Waugh has 91 wickets and just needs another nine to be the first player to take 100 wickets and score 10,000 runs. His wicket-taking has slowed down with him taking just two in his last 40 Tests. He took 58 Tests to reach 50 wickets and 81 in total to reach 75 wickets.

Other milestones Waugh would want to achieve are a century at the WACA, the only Test ground in Australia upon which he has not scored one. He may then also wish to score one against Bangladesh in Darwin and Cairns when they play each other in July.

If Waugh scores that hundred in the fourth innings of the match, it will be the first time he has scored a hundred in that innings of the game.

He also needs just four more Test wins as captain to overtake Clive Lloyd as the most successful captain in terms of the number of wins.

So as soon as Steve Waugh declared himself available for the tour of the West Indies, the selectors did the only thing possible and chose him. And why wouldn't Waugh have made himself available when he still has so much to achieve and has so much to offer.