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| July 20, 2003 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1424 |
Aussie skipper gets better with age
DARWIN, July 19: Steve Waugh silenced his critics yey again on Saturday with a chanceless century against Bangladesh that showed he is getting better with age.
At a vintage when most players have already retired, the 38-year-old Australian captain shows no sign of slowing down.
But Waugh said he still wants more.
“I’m still just trying to improve, just because you’re a certain age doesn’t mean you can’t improve any more so for me it’s about getting better,” Waugh told a news conference.
“I just wanted to go out there and play well and if I don’t think I can improve then I shouldn’t be out there.”
Waugh briefly considered retiring after a lean run last season but says he has no thoughts of giving up now that he is back in form.
“I had a tough time last year but I overcame that...so I’m doing it for myself now more than anyone else,” Waugh said.
“It is nice to overcome those tough times, every cricketer has them during their careers, and it’s probably a little bit harder as you get older.
“But I’m just happy with the way I’m playing, I’m enjoying the game and being positive.”
Waugh said he was proud of his feat of scoring a century against each of Australia’s nine Test opponents but was not driven by records.
“Records and milestones will all be broken but it is still nice to achieve things and to score a hundred against every country is something I’m proud of.”
Meanwhile, history and form suggest Australia will cruise to victory, but Waugh said Bangladesh had impressed him with their fighting spirit.
“They can obviously play but they’ve got a lot to prove,” Waugh said. “A lot of people have written them off and it was good to seem them play well.”
Waugh said it was difficult scoring freely against the Bangladeshis.
“We really had to work hard for our first 150 runs so I think you have to give Bangladesh some credit for that, they bowled and fielded pretty well,” Waugh said.
Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said his side would have bowled out any other team in the world except Australia and he was encouraged by their performance.—Reuters
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