How captaincy is measured? This is an interesting question because some might base their analysis on stats, winning percentage, and a few other trivial phenomenal. They is another way of measuring it which is purely based on development, in short where a captain found the team and where he left it? Australian captain Steve Waugh stands tall on both grounds but his captaincy, contrasting to modern collaborative work environment, was in a sense authoritarian and conventional.
Steve Waugh was a great player who enjoyed plenty of success as a player and captain, remaining in the fore front of Australian team throughout his career. At an unfortunate time, Mark Taylor stepped from captaincy and 33 years old Waugh was made in charge who remained so in the position until his retirement in 2004.
The Initial Journey As A Captain
It is a fact that Waugh was an incredible leader but the initial phase of his journey as a captain wasn’t really what he expected it to be. Australia had no stable openers after Mark Taylor was dropped, Michael di Venuto and Tom Moody were tried to open the innings with Steve Waugh but it didn’t work out. It was tough for the captain himself who bagged three ducks in six innings after taking the role of captain.
It was a tough moment for the Australian team who had lost its senior players and some new faces have been added to the team. One of them was Adam Gilchrist who was elevated as the new opener and it worked the for the team. As Australian team found some stability as a unit, Steve Waugh found his form back.
Australia had defeated South Africa 2-1 then drew the 4 four match ODI series with New Zealand. The 98 tour of India proved to be fruitful for Steve Waugh as he continued to impress as Australia won reached the final of tri-series in which India and New Zealand took part. But as Waugh highly valued test cricket, Australia’s dominant victory over Pakistan at Karachi really showed the Australian team had moved ahead.
Steve Waugh was an orthodox captain, he knew that some tough decisions were necessary in a certain stage of the game. In an interview with Michael Atherton, Waugh said that as a captain his job was not to please everyone even though though he wanted to be loyal to his teammates, however, at the end of the day, it was team that mattered the most.
Taking Tough Decisions as Captain
The captaincy wasn’t actually a tough ride for Steve Waugh because he was already an experienced player by the team he was given the role. The fact is you can’t be on same page with eleven individuals in a team and that’s where the real challenge comes. During the Carribbean tour of 1998, Waugh made a critical decision. Australia were expected to win the series comfortably and they start the series on a good note winning the first match.
However, further two test matches were won by the home side and Waugh was in some real pressure. As a batter, Waugh was in tremendous form, scoring over 400 runs in 4 match test series but the real pressure called before fourth test. Waugh made a decision to drop Shane Warne from the fourth test. Warne was vice captain of the Australian team at the time.
Australia did win the test match but the decision was heavily criticised by Warne in his book, calling Waugh “most selfish captain he ever played under.” It is due to the fact the Allan Border who was selector at the time, backed Shane Warne but Waugh was adamant with his decision. Warne accepted that he wasn’t at his best on the tour due to the shoulder injury but this appeared to him, one sided decision making by the captain.
On the same tour, Waugh employed curfew in the team, giving the reason that the booze culture was letting the whole team down. He criticised senior player like Ian Healy for putting aside team ethics and not really standing up to his game. Later, Waugh confessed that curfew wasn’t a good idea. Did it affect team’s unity? It’s hard to say because as a team, putting individual riffs aside, Australia was dominating the game.
Making Australia Dominant Again
Australia went on to win the 1999 cricket World Cup held in England under the captaincy of Steve Waugh. Waugh was highest run getter for Australia and Shane Warne, highest wicket-taker for Australia. After the conclusion of World Cup, Australia started it domination in test cricket, winning record 16 test matches on the roll, starting with white wash against Pakistan then India in home summer.
Their 16 match winning streak was put on halt in India which Waugh called the final frontier. Despite winning the first test match at Wankhede, Australia were put under pressure by India and some remarkable test cricket by Indian team shattered the dream of Steve Waugh. The famous 2001 Ashes series was won 4-1 by Australian team but at this stage, Waugh was struggling with the bat.
As a captain Steve Waugh was quite conservative, he wanted players to be emotionally attached to the baggy green. At one instance, he asked his players to wear baggy green when watching Wimbledon. He later mentioned that he was looking for that 1% to inject the loyalty among playes to the baggy green. However, not everyone was comfortable with these newly instated ways of proving loyalty to the team.
End of the Captaincy Career
Steve Waugh suffered same fate his predecessors had suffered. With his declining form catching everyone’s attention, Waugh’s failure with the bat was somehow not so much spoken about because the team was playing dominant cricket. He had desired to take part in 2003 World Cup, however, considering the smooth transition, Ricky Ponting was handed over the captaincy. Shane Watson’s may have opened the door for Steve Waugh to make a return but Ponting showed faith in then out of form Andrew Symonds whose all-rounder ability proved more than handy for Australia.
Already sidelined from ODIs, Steve Waugh had averaged 24 and 40 in 2001-02 and 2002-03 season. However he had an opportunity when he scored a century after getting back to back ducks which saved his test career or so to say, postponed the criticism. During home Ashes, Waugh struggled throughout but a record making century once again proved vital for his career. This was a tough time for Waugh who was copping harsh scrutiny from media over his form and the youngesters in the team had a very contrasting view of team culture than he held.
Waiting for the right time, Steve Waugh decided that 2003-04 home season will be his last one after he had already lost the captaincy to Ricky Ponting. In that period, he scored 406 runs at an average of 50 in 6 matches. His last series was against India on home soil which didn’t end as a fairlytale because the series ended in draw despite best efforts of the Australian team.
