Waugh rules himself out of NSW coaching job

Steve Waugh has revealed that he won't be applying for the New South Wales coaching job next season, when Steve Rixon leaves to take over at Surrey. According to Waugh, the job - which will be advertised internationally - should go to Trevor Bayliss, the assistant coach.

"He's going to be very good," said Waugh. "He hasn't been appointed yet but if I was in Dave Gilbert's position right now, I'd certainly appoint him."

The Pura Cup match against Queensland, which starts on Thursday, could be the last for both the Waugh twins and Rixon, unless NSW can win convincingly - with the added proviso that Tasmania are thrashed by Victoria.

Waugh also suggested that friendly competition with Mark had helped both to script memorable careers. "We spurred each other on to do the best we possibly could, and I think being the Waugh twins and playing for Australia was a nice thing for us," he said. "We wanted to play together for as long as we could for Australia, and the same for New South Wales."

Mike Whitney predicted years ago that both would end up with similar career statistics, and so it has proved. "We've scored 50,000 runs between us and Mark's average right now is 51.98 and mine's 52.01," said Steve. "So we're three-one-hundredths of a run difference over 20 years and 50,000 runs."