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| December 24, 2002 | Tuesday | Shawwal 19, 1423 |
Mates rally behind battling Waugh
MELBOURNE, Dec 23: Australia paceman Glenn McGrath says Steve Waugh will rise to the biggest challenge of his career after the selectors told the skipper his place in the side was under scrutiny in this week’s fourth Test.
Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said on Sunday the panel had spoken to Waugh about his international playing future and that the 37-year-old captain had their backing until the fifth Test against England in Sydney (starting on Jan 2).
“You look through his whole career, he’s really been a fighter the whole way through,” McGrath told reporters at Melbourne airport on Monday.
The fourth Test at the MCG starts on Thursday.
“Determination and ruthlessness are a couple of words you could say about him. This is probably the toughest fight of his career but the type of character he is, he’ll probably rise to the occasion.
“Ideally it would be great to see Steve come down here, put a big score on the board in Melbourne and do the same in Sydney.”
Waugh is Australia’s most successful Test captain with 32 wins from 43 matches in charge, including big victories in the first three Tests of this Ashes series.
The former promising junior soccer player from western Sydney will equal Allan Border’s world record of 156 Test appearances when he plays in the fifth Test in Sydney.
Australia dropped the 1999 World Cup-winning captain from their one-day side for the series in South Africa in March, Ricky Ponting leading the team to a 5-1 win.
Waugh has not been included in Australia’s provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe starting in February.
He has averaged 26.50 in the first three Tests of the Ashes series. His highest score of 53 came during the third Test in Perth last month after illness had caused him a sleepless night.
Waugh has averaged under 28 in 15 matches since the 2001 Ashes tour to England.
McGrath, the sixth highest wicket-taker in Test history with 420 victims, said Waugh should retire only when he wants to.
“That’s a decision he’s got to make himself. He’s been a legend of the game, really,” McGrath said.
“The amount of times he’s really fought and brought Australia back into a game when we’ve been in trouble...I consider myself lucky to have played with a guy of his calibre.
“It would be great to see him go out on his own terms, when he wants to.”
Waugh, who declined to speak to reporters on Monday, is scheduled to hold a news conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Waugh is not prolonging his Test career for the money, according to team vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.
Gilchrist on Monday rejected a claim by Hohns that Australian players were becoming reluctant to retire because of their massive pay packets.
“Players are tending to play longer these days,” Hohns was quoted as saying. “Maybe it is the amount of money they are earning.”
Waugh’s annual income from all sources tops the million-dollar mark (US$560,000).
But Gilchrist is adamant that continuing to collect cash has nothing to do with 37-year-old Waugh’s desperation to retain his Test job and return to the Australian limited-overs side for the World Cup.
“I’m positive, knowing Steve well, that money has never been a driving force with him,” Gilchrist said.
“It’s great to have financial security, everyone has family and commitments, but Steve has done so much for Australia in cricket and Australia in general without finances being his motivating factor.
“Look, there are definitely financial incentives there now but I think players — hopefully — understand and realise that there is a time to retire and I’m sure all players do eventually.
“If not, I guess they run the risk of being told by the selectors there’s no further part in the team to play.”—Reuters/AFP
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