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| February 14, 2002 | Thursday | Zilhaj 1, 1422 |
Aussies dump Waugh from one-dayers
SYDNEY, Feb 13: Steve Waugh has been dumped as Australian one-day captain just a year before the World Cup in South Africa, the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) said on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old, who led Australia to World Cup victory in 1999, will not be picked for the seven one-day matches in South Africa starting next month, said chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns, adding that he hoped the move would prolong Waugh’s Test career.
Waugh’s dismissal, which follows recent backlash from the media following the team’s failure to reach the triangular series one-day final involving South Africa and New Zealand, was unexpected as he was the most successful captain in one-day history.
Waugh said he was shocked and disappointed when told the news on Monday night.
Waugh, a veteran of 145 Tests and 325 limited overs internationals, will still captain Australia’s Test squad of 15 due to fly from Sydney to Johannesburg on Thursday for a three-Test tour.
“Well this is a setback right now. It wasn’t something I’d planned for but these things happen,” Waugh said.
“It was very disappointing. It was just before the Allan Border Medal night so, there’s never a good time I guess to get bad news.
“When I received it I was disappointed and probably a little bit shocked, as I guess everyone is when they’re dropped from a side.
“Particularly when you are captain, it’s a big decision.
“So I just have to get on with the job I guess of proving the selectors wrong, scoring a lot of runs for New South Wales and being very determined to try and make that side again for 2003.
“I haven’t lost that desire and will to go out there and do well for Australia. So until that happens, I won’t retire.”
Hohns said the new captain for the one-day side would not be named until the limited overs squad for the South African tour was chosen in the next seven days.
Vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and former vice-captains Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting are considered contenders for the job.
“It was the selectors’s unanimous view that there were now other players ahead of Steve for a place in the one-day team,” Hohns said.
“Now is the appropriate time to do some serious planning for that World Cup.
“We are very hopeful this decision will prolong Steve’s Test career.”
Australia’s decision has shocked some of his biggest rivals and a string of the biggest names in the game.
“I do think it is a little surprising,” South African captain Shaun Pollock told Reuters on Wednesday.
“Obviously they (the Australian Cricket Board) feel strongly about it and with the World Cup here in South Africa next year they probably want to allow the person who is taking over to get an opportunity here.”
Pollock said his side had not considered Waugh to be a weak point in the Australian team during the recent one-day series in Australia, and that he expected the decision to make him all the more dangerous in the forthcoming tests.
Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram told Reuters: “I don’t know what the Australian board have in their minds, but the sacking of Steve Waugh has really surprised me.
“He has been the most positive captain, winning a string of matches for his country. You can’t remove a captain just because in one tournament, their team failed to make it to the final.
“I still think Steve Waugh is the best one-day captain and player. He had the guts to take risks.”
Earlier, former Australia captain Allan Border admitted to feeling “physically ill” when he decided to support Waugh’s sacking.
“I can remember putting the phone down and feeling physically ill about the decision we had come to as selectors,” Border, who played his 156th and final test aged 38 in 1993-94, said in Sydney.
Former Australia captain Richie Benaud, one of the elder statesmen of world cricket, said on Wednesday the decision to dump Waugh was proof the Australian nation would not tolerate even a small number of losses.
Benaud also warned Australia’s next one-day captain to watch his back.
“It was a great shock to me because I suppose it underlines the fact that you don’t lose,” Benaud said on Australian television.
“As soon as you lose, then people are calling for your head.
“I simply can’t understand the timing, and if it was done, as we’ve heard, just before the Allan Border Medal (on Monday night), that seems to me to be stupid.”
Mark Taylor, who lost the one-day captaincy to Waugh in 1997-98 but retained the Test captaincy until his retirement in February 1999, said he felt Waugh had it coming.
“I think the writing has been on the wall yes, just during this season,” Taylor said on Australian television.
“Things certainly haven’t gone his way. I think it will be very hard for him to force his way back into the side, mainly because he is 36.”—Reuters
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