Steve Waugh is one of the most famous Australian Cricketer of all time. At some point in his career, Wang had set the record for the most Test appearances in the world (168), a record that was broken by a cricket great in Sachin Tendulkar. Steve, alongside his younger twin brother Mark, played a crucial role in rebuilding the Australian National Cricket Team that was performing poorly in the late 20th century. He is a medium-paced bowler and a right handed batsman.
His Early Career and Achievements
Waugh made his debut at the tender age of 20 years against the mighty India in the year 1985 at the second test that took place at Melbourne. His debut was not a walk in the park as he failed to make a significant score in the whole series, he only notched 2/36 innings and could not score in 13 and 5. It came as a surprise to see Waugh retained in the squad even after failing to score a century in his first twenty-six tests.
He started to find his feet in the New Zealand Tour where he had a good match by making 74 runs and claiming 4/56. The Triangular Tournament presented him with the chance to step up, and he took it by scoring 266 runs at 38; he also registered two half centuries and a high score of 81 as they trounced India. He was retained in all four One-Day Internationals (ODIs) on the New Zealand Tour and scored 111 runs and taking four wickets. He was then selected for the Tour of India where Australia was to take part in 6 ODIs, and he scored 113 runs, his low score was because he was chosen for his battling.
The World Cup of 1987 was the beginning of Waugh’s career turning point; he was an influential figure in the team earning him the nickname “Iceman” as they stormed to the World Title. His breakthrough year occurred in England in the year 1989 when he notched 177 not out and a further 152 not out in the first two tests. He finished the series against England with an average of 126.
Even after taking the Ashes four years later, many people failed to regard Waugh as a complete batsman, but this was not to last. In the year 1995, in the West Indies Tour, he registered a 200 against a strong West Indies attack to silence his critics who were vocal in questioning his style of play. After this tour, he was now regarded as the greatest batsman in the world.
He went further to score two centuries against the England side in the same test. He was awarded test captainship in 1999 and lead Australia’s ODI team to a World Cup victory. Later that year, he inspired his side to a record 16 test victories. In 2002, he gave up captainship on Australia’s ODI team, but he was still captain of the Test squad that won the 2002-03 Ashes, Waugh retired in 2004.
