Waugh wants to fall in love again

CANTERBURY, England - Steve Waugh wants to rediscover the beauty of cricket.

The Australian Test captain admits the magic of the game which captured him as a boy is sometimes lost amid the money and pressure of modern day professionalism, especially when things aren't going your way.

And things didn't go all his way last year.

Although Australia had resounding series wins over South Africa following a lucky escape against New Zealand, Waugh had a rare barren patch of form, was dropped from the one day team and was also under pressure off the field.

He arrived in Canterbury yesterday for a 21-day stint with English county side Kent in a bid to find form before Australia's series against Pakistan and England and rekindle his passion for the game.

"I just want to get out there and enjoy my cricket. Last year wasn't as enjoyable as I would have liked compared to the previous 16 years," he said.

"This year my goal is to enjoy my cricket, see the beauty of the game and see the little things that when you played the game when you were six or seven years old in the backyard were why you loved the game.

"Sometimes that can be lost in the professionalism of the game and the money and the pressure."

Waugh said his disillusionment last summer was the result of several factors.

He scored a poor 314 runs from nine Tests at an average of 24.15 after a deep vein thrombosis developed on his return from the Ashes series in England opened his domestic summer under a cloud which did not lift.

And as his form suffered, the Australian press started to question his position.

"There are always issues which not everyone's aware of, it was a difficult time in some ways," he said.

"I felt the media changed a little bit last year in the way they dealt with the Australian side.

"I just came off the DVT. I had the baggage of the fact Justin Langer was dropped and Michael Slater was dropped and I was a selector which wasn't easy. It's always tough to drop your teammates.

"And things just didn't quite work out on the field.

"It's no excuse, but I just didn't quite enjoy cricket as much as I could have."

Waugh starts his campaign of rediscovery in Kent's one day match against Leicestershire in Canterbury on Wednesday.