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.

Spoiled for choice

Australia is a lucky country. There's no denying it.

When it comes to cricket, we are one of the few nations in the world, probably the only nation, that can create an Australia 'A' team that is good enough to match it with other test nations. As we go into battle without McGrath, Warne, Langer, and Martyn, Australia is still confident of victory. Why?

Because we have depth. The domestic competition here is the best in the world, and the lack of spots available creates an intensity that is not rivalled by any other county's domestic competition. By comparison, County Cricket in England has too much teams, and therefore average cricketers who wouldn't otherwise get a run in a restricted competition fall through the gaps.

Australia are really spoiled for choice. To replace Langer, the contenders are Phil Jaques, Chris Roger, Brad Hodge and Shane Watson, all of whom could play for another test nation. In the middle order we could have Dave Hussey, Simon Katich, Hodge, Watson, Adam Voges and a plethora of young batsman with talent, one of the most exciting being young Western Australian Luke Pomersbach.

In the fast bowling department, Australia have Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Brett Dorey, Ashley Noffke and the like. The problem to come will be replacing Shane Warne, a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer. Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg are relaible spinners, but both are over 35. Aaron Heal is a big talent, as is South Australian spin duo Cullen Bailey and Dan Cullen. The fact is they can't really replace Warne, so Australia must bide its time whilst the young and inexperienced spinners develop their craft instead of being thrown into test cricket too young.

The likely Australian test side, well at least in my opinion, should probably look something like this:

Phil Jaques (NSW)
Matthew Hayden (QLD)
Ricky Ponting (C) (TAS)
Michael Clarke (NSW)
Michael Hussey (WA)
Andrew Symonds (QLD)
Adam Gilchrist (WK) (WA)
Brad Hogg (WA)
Brett Lee (NSW)
Stuart Clark (NSW)
Mitchell Johnson (QLD)

12th Man: Shaun Tait (SA)

Quite a formidable side.

An Australian 'A' side, featuring the best of the rest, could look something like this.

Chris Rogers (WA)
Shane Watson (QLD)
Simon Katich (C) (NSW)
Brad Hodge (VIC)
Dave Hussey (VIC)
Brad Haddin (WK) (NSW)
Luke Butterworth (TAS)
Ashley Noffke (QLD)
Aaron Heal (WA)
Doug Bollinger (NSW)
Ben Hilfenhaus (TAS)

12th Man: Cameron White (VIC)

Now you can't say this team wouldn't be competitive at International level. It features players that any other test nation would die to have. Two of those players average over 50 at first class level and another three average over 45. The bowling attack is potentially strong enough to give any test nation a shake up.

Does any other nation have this sort of spoilt choice? Not to such a level as this. I could even find you a third team to go along with this Australia 'A' team. Nowhere else in the test nations can you find such depth of talent.