The iciest of icemen

As Steve Waugh prepares to call it a day, Freddie Auld looks back on a remarkable career full of highs (and not many lows), and picks out his ten best moments

1 v England, Kolkata, 1987 World Cup final
In the first of his four World Cups, Waugh showed the first signs of his ice-cold nerve when he bowled the penultimate over of the match with England requiring 19 to win. Waugh only gave away two, and dismissed Phillip DeFreitas as well, and Australia lifted the trophy.

2 v England, Headingley, 1989
The wait was finally over. After 27 attempts and two scores in the nineties came the first of many Test centuries, and the first of ten against England. In the first Test of the 1989 Ashes series, Waugh pummelled 177 not out and put on over 100 with Dean Jones, as the Aussies batted England out of the match. Australia went on to win by 210 runs.

3 v England, Lord's, 1989
Just to let everyone know he had arrived on the scene, Waugh scored another big unbeaten century in the very next match, and at Lord's too. Coming in after a solid start from the top order, Waugh went on to make 152 not out, and added 130 with Geoff Lawson to give Australia an unbeatable advantage. Just to really rub it in, he hit the winning runs in their six-wicket victory on their way to an 4-0 Ashes win, something which few people expected. England didn't get him out in that series until the third Test.

4 v South Africa, Adelaide, 1993-94
Just as Waugh established a healthy appetite for English bowling, he liked the South Africans too. In his first Test against them, coming back from injury and with Australia one down in the series, he masterminded a comfortable victory with 164 in the first innings, and then took 4 for 26 as South Africa went down by 191 runs. That was also the game in which Allan Border became the first man to exceed 11,000 Test runs, Ian Healy made his 200th dismissal, and Shane Warne took his 100th wicket - but Waugh still picked up the Man of the Match award.

5 v West Indies, Kingston, 1994-95
Exceptional, even by Waugh's stratospheric standards. The four-Test series against West Indies was delicately poised at 1-1, so all to play for in the decider - and Waugh played it just right. After West Indies had posted a respectable 265, Waugh and his twin put on a dazzling 231 together. Mark eventually fell for 126, but Steve made it to his first and only Test double-century (to date, anyway). Australia racked up 531, and West Indies, who had not lost a series for 15 years, succumbed to a humbling innings-and-53-run drubbing, a result which changed the world order forever.

6 v South Africa, Johannesburg, 1996-97
Another big win, another hundred, and another big partnership. After the bowlers had let South Africa off the hook from 165 for 6 to reach 302, Waugh wasn't in such generous mood and, this time with Greg Blewett, batted throughout the third day and ground down the South African attack with a dogged 160 and a monster stand of 385. Add to that the important wicket of Hansie Cronje in the second innings, and it was a good few days' work as Australia ran out winners by an innings and 196.

7 v England, Old Trafford, 1997
Yes, back to England, who again found themselves on the wrong end of Waugh's wand, this time in the 1997 Ashes. England at this point were 1-0 up in the series, but surely it couldn't last - and thanks to two epic hundreds from Waugh, it didn't. In a low-scoring match, he gritted out 108 in the first innings, just under half of the team total, and then put the match beyond England with an equally dogged 116 in the second. England lost by 268 runs, and went on to lose the series 3-2.

8 v South Africa, World Cup, 1999
This was the match before the famous one, but if it wasn't for Waugh then that thrilling semi-final may never have happened. In their previous tussle in the Super Sixes, South Africa again appeared to have everything under control with Australia struggling on 174 for 7 in pursuit of 272 ... but, you guessed it, the captain game good. Waugh calculated a perfectly paced knock of 120 off 110 balls, and was famously dropped by Herschelle Gibbs on 56. Whether or not Waugh really muttered that line about dropping the World Cup may never be known, but the importance of that century in Australia's winning campaign will never be underestimated.

9 v England, The Oval, 2001
Only a fool would play with a dodgy leg, wouldn't he? After tearing a muscle in his leg at the Trent Bridge Test three weeks earlier, Waugh knew that the The Oval game would be his last in England - and nothing was going to stop him playing in it. Coming in at 292 for 2, Waugh could have been forgiven for taking it a bit easy, but not a bit of it. He could hardly run, so he just smacked boundaries - 21 fours and a six - instead. The only sniff England had of getting him out was when he hobbled for a single on 99, but he made it - and even managed a smile afterwards.

10 v England, Sydney, 2002-03
His last game against the old enemy, and it wouldn't have been right if he hadn't gone out in style - and what style. After a subdued series, and with the press calling for his head, Waugh bailed the Aussies out one last time against the Poms, and as a balmy evening draw on, he edged closer and closer to his century. And it came to pass that with one ball of the day to go, he had 98 not out ... and punched Richard Dawson, the offspinner, through the covers to spark the biggest celebrations the SCG, his home ground, had witnessed for yonks. Even Waugh, normally the iciest of icemen, showed his appreciation of the historic moment, one that gleams brightly in his bulging treasure chest.