Mark Waugh: Failed potential?

Few people who watched cricket during the 90's will have forgotten the Waugh twins. They defined an era where Australia once again became the dominant force in cricket, and they played under three captains during this time.


They both had relatively different career paths into the Australian team. Steve, the older twin by a few minutes, was thrust into the team at barely 20, and forced to fend for himself for years, until he blossomed as a batsman in the famous 1989 Ashes campaign.

By the end of his career Steve was the most respected and worshipped cricketers Australia has ever produced, having become captain by the end of his career and finishing with the great average of 51.06.


Mark's however was completely different.

As Steve was thrown against tough teams having had the bare minimum of first class experience, Mark bided his time. He made NSW, and began peeling off centuries for the state and overseas for Essex, where he was befriended by soon-to-be English captain Graham Gooch.


Whilst Junior made mountains of runs at first class level, Steve's career was up and down. The 1989 Ashes was a great triumph for Steve, but he needed to keep it up. During that tour, he and Mark had become the first brothers to score centuries against each other, with Steve scoring a century for Australia whilst Mark helped himself to one for Essex.

During the 1990-91 Ashes series, with Steve suffering from lack of form, Mark was put in place of him and immediately scored 138. Many critics who saw this innings rated it his greatest innings and one of the most exhilarating debut centuries ever.


For a while, Mark was suddenly ruler of the roost. He did well in a tough tour of the West Indies later that year, and seemed to be enjoying test cricket. Steve, realizing his career was on the line, re-evaluated his technique and emerged as a risk-free and determined batsman capable of winning games.

Sadly, Mark became something else.


When the two are compared, it is like chalk and cheese. Steve was all grit and determination, waiting until a loose ball was bowled before punishing it heavily. Mark, however, was brilliant. He oozed elegance and confidence, and like the English batsman David Gower, had the remarkable ability to make batting look relatively simple.

He could drive with pristine timing, as well as cut and hook spectacularly. When he used his feet to spinners, rarely was the case that he misjudged the ball. His specialty shot was to flick the ball casually through square or midwicket. It was if bowlers were more a hindrance than a threat when Mark was batting.


This casual indifference was usually a double-edged sword, as he would often play lazy shots not befitting a man of his talents. Although he scored 8029 test runs with 20 centuries, his average was 41.81, hardly worth writing home about.

In one day cricket there can be no doubting he was superior to Steve. He opened later in his career with Adam Gilchrist and the pair formed a truly destructive duo. His penitence for riskier shots allowed him to display a lot of his talent, and he played some truly memorable innings.


Mark's 173 off 148 balls against the West Indies in the final of the Carlton-United series in 2001 was a masterpiece of one day cricket, and gives him the rare distinction of having a higher score in one day cricket than in test cricket.

The only other ability in which Mark stands alone, and probably is superior to any other, is fielding. On all-round ability, Mark exceeds the exploits of the finest fieldsman of the modern era, including Jonty Rhodes, Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting. His 181 catches is a world record, with Brian Lara next with 164.


He often fielded at slip, taking the majority of his catches from the bowling of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Often these catches were spectacular, including some that had gone past him. His claim to immortality was that he took catches no-one else could take.

When we focus on his batting record, it is difficult to see what made Mark Waugh such a great player, and why people such as I hold him with such great esteem. 41.81 is good, but not great. His first class average by comparison is 52.04, over ten runs better.


Like David Gower and even Victor Trumper, with Mark Waugh is was more about how he made the runs and not how many he made. Often he was the bane of opposition captains, when out of nowhere suddenly he'd have 70 runs on the board and they'd be tearing their hair out trying to stop him.

We are left with a cricketer that perhaps never really achieved what others believed him capable of. By the end of career he was a shadow of his former self, and was weighed down by his guilt over a bookmaking scandal he and Shane Warne were involved in.


But a smile can be brought to the face of any cricket lover when they are asked to recall Mark Waugh at his graceful best.