If there is a cricketer who epitomised the way the Australians played the game, it is none other than Steve Waugh. With him in the crease or yet to come, the game is never lost. The World Cup game against South Africa is an excellent example of the competitive nature of Steve Waugh. Poor Gibbs, he will never forget the lost opportunity in his life. For someone who started as an allrounder who can hit the ball a long way and bowl less than medium pace, the evolution of Steve Waugh into one of the wonderful batsman of his era, speaks volumes about his tenacity and strength of mind. Waugh retired in 2004. A full 18 years ago. Yet, I thought of writing a tribute to one of the best of my days as a child. Steve Waugh the epitome of Aussie spirit.
Rahul Dravid, in his foreword for Waugh’s autobiography “Out of My Comfort Zone“, wrote: “I will remember the pain of not beating him in that last Test of his, in Sydney in 2004, but also recall fondly his final innings in cricket against us, for it was a typical Steve Waugh innings: mind over matter, a man not in form but soldiering on, taking his team to safety.”
These beautiful words from one master about another shows everything in a nutshell about the cricketer that Waugh was. Waugh could not have received a better tribute than this.
Here, I would like to write a few lines about his autobiography. It is a well written book unlike the ones written by Tendulkar and Ganguly which was more of match report.
Waugh obsession with the baggy green
Most Aussie sports fans will agree that the baggy green is the more sacred than all their prized possessions. In about 140 years of the game, just over 450 Australians were awarded the Baggy Green.
Steve Waugh is famed for promoting the baggy green and wearing it in most of the games. He placed a lot of importance on the cap. His strong belief was that the baggy green must be earned by anyone who represents Australia. He or she must be worthy of it. Disregarding the cap is like blasphemy for him. There is a picture of him walking onto the ground after his final innings in Sydney with the Baggy Green on. After so many years, his cap was tattered and worn out but he still retained the very first cap he received. He is a strong proponent of wearing the Baggy Green during important times on the field. Be it winning a series or the Ashes or the World Cup.
His infatuation with the cap was so great that he took that to the extreme. Once during the Ashes tour of England, Australia happened to visit Wimbledon to support a fellow Aussie. He ordered everyone to wear the Baggy Green to the stadium. Everyone who went with him obliged. Everyone except for one. The one and only Shane Warne. There is this famous picture of Waugh and McGrath with their cap watching the action with Shane wearing a normal sports cap.
The innings that will be remembered for a long time
The first one that I remember quite fondly was the one during the famous Border-Gavaskar series in 2001. Shortly, the Laxman series. Prior to Laxman’s heroics, it was Australia all the way. The team under Waugh had come to India with the sole purpose of winning. They were ono a roll having won 16consecutive Tests. They were held in awe and were an unstoppable force. The batsmen were belligerent and the bowlers were menacing. Waugh even provided a fillip to the series by terming it as the Last Frontier. This single term aroused passion among the Indians who now wanted nothing but to win the series.
Australia won the first test at Bombay rather easily. They annihilated India and it was a severe mauling. It was only a matter of time before Australia wraps up the series in Calcutta and breach the final frontier. However, against the odds, India began to shape up. First through a mesmerising bowling by Harbhajan Singh. He picked up a hattrick and Australia were struggling with 7 down for just over 250. If at all there is someone who can take charge at that stage was there, it was Steve Waugh and he was at the wicket, determined to wrest the initiative back from the Indians.
In the company of Gillespie, Waugh set about to repair the innings. One ball at a time. He dragged Australia to well over 400 which if not for a freakish partnership, could have well won the series. It was an innings of sheer grit and determination. A determination that personified the epitome of Australian cricket. An attitude that always thought of winning.
The Gibbs game
Waugh’s hundreds against the arch-rival, England, are legendary. He always reserved his best for the old enemy. However, the one innings that will be talked about forever was that World Cup one.
His innings is as much famous for his legendary banter to Gibbs. There are different versions so to what exactly transpired but Waugh himself has written that all he said was, “how does it feel to drop the World Cup, Herschelle”. Nonetheless, to even utter such a line speaks volumes about his confidence in winning the game.
The special innings
West Indies were the giants during Waugh’s era. Defeating them and that too in their own islands, was next to impossible. Not for nothing were they the unofficial champion cricket team. For more than 15 years, they did not lose a single test series. If not for one Steve Waugh, they may not have lost a series for another couple of years. He withstood the genius of Curtly Ambrose, the guile of Courtney Walsh and the genuine pace of the Benjamin’s, Winston and Kenny. His innings firmly established Australia as the pre-eminent nation who went onto rule the cricketing world for another 15 years.
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