13 February 1999
Waugh a reliable choice as captain
By Mark Nicholas
THE announcement that Steve Waugh will replace Mark Taylor as
captain of Australia was a splendid moment for a reserved man who
set out on his road to the Damascus of cricketing achievement
during the days when anyone, even England, could beat Australia.
Waugh was the bright young thing of the mid-1980s and was
identified ahead of his more gifted twin as a young man who would
bring backbone to a weak and unprofessional Australian team. He
was, and still is, a man of substance rather than frivolity, a
man who could be trusted with the future.
Since that series in 1986-87, when Mike Gatting's tourists won
everything they entered, Waugh has been through many a
metamorphosis and has now emerged as the most resilient and most
reliable Test match batsman in the world. He has an average of
50, for goodness sake, which only serious batsmen manage, and he
scores his runs when his men most need them, when the body of the
team twitches on the floor.
Now he is trusted with the ultimate sporting responsibility in
Australia, the role of guardian and guide of the national sport.
Recently John Howard, the prime minister, said that the captaincy
of the cricket team was the second most important job in
Australia. We take it that he thought his own to be the numero
uno, and Steve Waugh, commenting yesterday, took it all rather
lightly, saying that plenty of people who work in medicine had
far more important jobs than he.
This is Steve Waugh - pragmatic, realistic and honest. He has a
different style from Mark Taylor but the same effect - what you
see is what you get. Australians tend to bring this
straightforwardness to sport and on the whole it serves them and
their country well.
Waugh is the flintiest of fellows, but he will not do the job
without charm. He will, no doubt, prove to be a fine leader, if
more stern and perhaps less imaginative than Taylor - and his
uncompromising approach will offer no spare oxygen to his
opponent. Surprisingly perhaps, but because he is a bright chap,
he will handle the media, which is so much a part of the act
these days, better than some suggest.
He was clearly delighted yesterday and had no hesitation in
saying so when he went through a mass of interviews before flying
back to Sydney to share the fun with his family.
Shane Warne, his obvious rival for the position, has every bit as
much charm, and some, but is not so straightforward. At a time
when the cricket world in Australia is clawing its way back from
the various humiliations of the past month, Waugh was the only
option. By all accounts, he waltzed past Warne in the vote taken
by the 14 Australian Cricket Board members. This was no great
surprise, given his long-term devotion to the cause and his
wonderfully clean image.
The selectors have given him an immensely strong team to take to
the Caribbean, where they start as clear favourites to repeat
their series success of four years ago. The selectors have also
had the sense to pre-empt further speculation about who would
captain the team for the World Cup by naming Waugh again,
assuming his fitness, with Warne as his deputy in both forms of
the game.
In deference to Warne, he has led with great flair and innovation
during the recent limited-overs series and he may well be
formally anointed as captain of Australia in due course. For now,
the shoulder injury that kept him out of cricket for nine months
and which has given Stuart MacGill a sniff of replacing the great
man in the Test team, and his tendency to attract drama and
controversy to his everyday life, persuaded the selectors and the
board to make him wait for his moment.
Warne may bristle a bit at this but, deep down, he will
appreciate that an outstanding man has nipped ahead of him for
now.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)