Sunday 31 March 2013

Nine words from Steve Waugh

He can still do it, can't he. He can still induce that vivid chill that blows back in from the early years of the century, when the things that Steve Waugh said came true (and some of the things he didn't say came true as well - 'you just dropped the world cup, son' being a case in point).

It wasn't just what he said but the way he said it, which was bluntly through thin lips, the baggy green pulled down almost to the top of his eyeline. Those eyes too, almost closed in a permanent squint, brought on, it seemed, by batting for so long on bone-white pitches from which the sun glared back at him.

Waugh is an indistinct presence in the game now, not in the media, not a coach, instead working on a couple of committees and keeping the kind of profile that preserves his mystique. He speaks rarely, so when he does, it retains impact.

'England aren't as good as they think they are,' he said at the New South Wales end of season awards, and if there's an England cricket fan that didn't feel that gentle tremor of truth to those nine words as they travelled halfway across the world, then they have probably come recently to the game.

It's a perfect piece of Steve Waugh theatre, brilliant in its understatement. It's no blithe McGrath prediction, not a lengthy piece of pre-series hype. Instead it's subtly undermining, it's suggestive, and it's also realistic. If there is a sensitive point to touch for England at the moment, then this is it. They bristle at any accusation of hubris.

Steve Waugh has not lost his sense of the fine margins that dictate the course of the game at the highest level. A stone-hard realist like him will understand why England are heavy favourites, and why they will most likely win. But he also understands what it takes to construct the psychology of a team, of how a myth is built up around it and how that myth can be reduced in the minds of those that must confront it.

They're a small thing, those nine words, but they're a start, as SR Waugh well knows.

10 comments:

Bob said...

Diversionary tactics given how poor Australia have been in India where England have just won a series...

Tony Tea said...

It is a pity we will need a little more than Steve Waugh words to regain the Ashes.

Brian Carpenter said...

As ever, more than a grain of truth.

If Pattinson and Starc can stay fit and ind the right length for the conditions, with Bird and Lyon to back them up, Australia won't have trouble taking English wickets.

Scoring enough runs, however, could be a problem...

cricketbash said...

England are overwhelming favorites, come what may! As long as Alastair Cook is at the helm, nothing can upstage them..

Graeme said...

when I first saw him bat, Steve Waugh seemed like a right-handed-Gower. But he kept getting out and tightened his repertoire until he batted like a 45 year old Boycott. The captaincy thing is another matter - Clive LLoyd proved himself by captaining the Leeward Islands to a trophy without ay spinners. What did Waugh ever achieve against the odds? And please factor in the strange tendency of English selectors to pick unfit or injured bowlers.

Cricket Mania said...

Steve Waugh was great captain and he proved it in many difficult situation with all round performance. Nowadays Australia is going thou with very bad situation as most of Australian players are out of form and Australia recent India tour explained it very well. England is ahead to Australia because England is lead by Cook and in my opinion cook is far good compare clark. Anyways best of luck to Australia in future.

Rauf Arshad - Cricket Fan said...

Steve Waugh always cricket Genius right after imran khan

IPL and Cricket said...

Steve Waugh was always our favourite captain for team Australia , he played cricket game with honesty and dignity. He also established lots of landmark for other which shows how to play the cricket whether “on filed” or “off filed”.

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