Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International debut in 1988. Waugh was a part of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
Waugh is younger than his twin brother Steve Waugh by a few minutes. Dean Waugh, another of Mark's brothers, is also a cricketer, having played both first-class and List A cricket in Australia for New South Wales. His nephew and Steve's son, Austin Waugh, was selected in the Australian under-19 team. He was previously a national selector, holding that position until August 2018. On 15 May 2018, he announced his intentions to swap national selector duties for a TV commentating role with Fox Sports.
Key achievements
Waugh was primarily a right-handed batsman who batted in the No. 4 position in Test matches. He was also a handy medium pace bowler, but changed to an off-spin bowler after back injuries restricted him. Waugh is regarded as one of the best slip fielders ever to play cricket and held the world record for most Test catches by a non-wicketkeeper until Rahul Dravid broke it in 2009.He began as an all-rounder in the Australian ODI team, but he later focussed on batting and progressed to opening the batting, where he excelled and became Australia's leading one day runscorer. His three centuries at the 1996 Cricket World Cup made him the first batsman to ever achieve this feat, with the record later equaled by Indian captain Sourav Ganguly at the 2003 Cricket World Cup. This record was later broken by India's Rohit Sharma in 2019 Cricket World Cup with 5 centuries. A fourth century in the 1999 Cricket World Cup made him the only Australian to score four centuries and more than 1000 runs in World Cup competition. He was the 2nd highest scorer for Australia in the World Cup, behind his brother Steve.
Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game and his stylish strokeplay was likened to that of Stan McCabe, Alan Kippax, Victor Trumper, Charlie Macartney and Greg Chappell.
Following his debut Test century, Australian coach Bob Simpson compared Waugh's elegance to that of Archie Jackson. Mark Taylor called Waugh the "best-looking leg-side player I've seen in my time... anything drifting into his pads is hit beautifully."
His facile grace also led to accusations that he was a "lazy" batsman who was vulnerable to soft dismissals.
Waugh is the younger fraternal twin brother of Steve Waugh, with whom he played for most of his career and also under his captaincy.
Early years
Born on 2 June 1965 at Canterbury Hospital in Campsie, New South Wales, Waugh was the second of twin boys born to Rodger and Beverley Waugh. He arrived four minutes after Steve. His father was a bank official and his mother was a teacher within the New South Wales Department of Education. The family settled in the western Sydney suburb of Panania. The twins were later joined by two more brothers, Dean and Danny. From an early age, the parents introduced their children to sport. By the age of six, the twins were playing organised soccer, tennis and cricket. In their first cricket match, the brothers were both dismissed for ducks.The twins came from a sporting family. Their paternal grandfather Edward was a greyhound trainer. Raised in the northern coastal town of Bangalow, Edward earned selection for the New South Wales Country team in rugby league. He was about to join Eastern Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby League, but had to give up his career due to family reasons. Rodger was Edward's only son and was promising tennis player, who was ranked eighth in Australia in his junior years and was the state champion at under-14 level. On the maternal side, Bev was a tennis player who won the under-14 singles at the South Australian Championships. Her eldest brother Dion Bourne was an opening batsman who played for Bankstown in Sydney Grade Cricket and remains the leading runscorer in the club's history.
The twins made their first representative cricket team when they were selected the Bankstown District under-10s at the age of eight. In 1976, the twins were the youngest ever to be selected in the New South Wales Primary Schools' soccer team. Playing for Panania Primary School, the twins swept their school to win the Umbro International Shield, a statewide knockout soccer competition, scoring all of their team's three goals in the final. They were a key part of their school's consecutive state cricket championships and were part of school tennis team that came second in the state in their final year. In their final year, Mark was the captain of the state primary school cricket and tennis teams, both of which won the national championships. The twins were instrumental in New South Wales winning the cricket carnival without a defeat.
By this time, the increasing time demands led to conflicts between the sports and were in one case delisted from a team due to a conflict of commitments. The twins progressed to East Hills Boys Technology High School, which had a history of producing Australian international representatives in a number of sports. Aged 13, the twins were invited by their uncle Bourne, then the captain of Bankstown's first grade team, to trial for the club's under-16 team for the Green Shield and both were selected. Aged fourteen, both made their senior grade cricket debut in 1979–80, playing in the Fourth XI. The twins broke into East Hills Boys First XI in the same season and achieved the same level in soccer. In 1980–81 the brothers were elevated to the Third XI mid-season. Mark's performance in the Green Shield saw him selected in Bankstown's under-21 team, still aged 15. The brothers often won formed a two-man team—in one match, Mark scored a century and then the brothers took 16/85 between them. At the end of 1980, the twins were selected in the state under-16 team for the national carnival, with Mark as vice-captain.
When Mark was 16, he grew around one foot in one year. It was a relief, because he had been diagnosed with the repetitive stress injury Osgood-Schlatter disease at 15 and told that he would not grow any further than his then height of 152 cm. The pair changed soccer teams to play in the reserve grade for Sydney Croatia in the state league and the pair were paid small amounts in the professional league. However, they quickly left as their cricket careers increasingly demanded more time.
The brothers were promoted to Bankstown's Second XI, before being selected for the First XI in the 1982–83 season, aged 17, both making their debut against Western Suburbs, with Mark making 97 on debut, ending the season with 427 runs at 30.50. This placed him second in his team's aggregates and he contributed 14 wickets at 10.71. By this time, his coaches had already identified the traits by which Mark was to be characterised in his international career, those of apparent laziness and reliable catching.
The twins finished high school at the end of 1983. In 1983–84, both were members of New South Wales Combined High Schools and the state under-19 team. Mark was named as the player of the series after scoring two centuries. The brothers were then selected for Australia for the first time. They had been named in the national under-19 team to play a Test and ODI series against the touring Sri Lankan counterparts. The under-19 series pitted several future international players against one another. Mark scored 123 in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval.
Waugh did not contemplate going to university; both he and his brother became sports equipment salesmen. He made his maiden First XI century during the season, scoring 108 against Mosman.
At the start of the 1984–85 season, the brothers were included in the New South Wales state squad.
Formative professional career
At the end of the season, the Waugh twins signed a contract to spend the Australian winter to play for Egerton in the Bolton League in Lancashire in northern England. Each club was allowed to have one professional; Steve was officially designated as such but would split the earnings with Mark. The twins were billeted with a local family. However, during the year, an Australian rebel tour to South Africa was staged, breaking the boycott against the apartheid regime. Some players defected from the Australian Test team to play in South Africa. This resulted in Dave Gilbert being promoted to the national squad, forcing him to forfeit his Esso scholarship, which allowed him to play Second XI cricket in the County Championship. Steve was selected to replace Gilbert with Essex, leaving Mark as the lone professional. Waugh struggled at first, but recovered to score six centuries for the season. As a reward for scoring more than 800 runs and taking more than 50 wickets, Waugh's captain, who was a dentist, gave him free service. Waugh eventually finished the season with 1460 runs and 75 wickets, breaking the club runscoring record by more than 200 runs.Waugh returned to Australia for the 1985–86 season, looking to make his First-class debut. He scored 177 against Petersham in just five hours and was selected for the state Second XI. Then, an opportunity arose with further ramifications of the rebel tours of South Africa. A two-year ban on playing state cricket was imposed on the players. This meant that New South Wales was looking for two new opening batsmen, as both Steve Smith and John Dyson had defected and been banned. Waugh and Taylor were selected to make their Sheffield Shield debut.
Domestic career
First-class cricket
Waugh and Mark Taylor opened on debut against Tasmania at Hobart's TCA Ground. New South Wales were sent into bat and Waugh was dismissed for 13 and New South Wales fell to 3/60 in the first innings. He scored 28 in the second innings, but the drawn match was more notable for an incident on the third morning, when the new opening pair overslept on Taylor's 21st birthday. They were punished by coach Bob Simpson with fielding drills, forcing the pair to take hundreds of catches. He took his first catch, that of Roger Woolley on debut. Waugh fell on tough times, being dismissed for a duck and four by Test bowler Merv Hughes in the next match against Victoria and then 17 and a run out for another duck against the touring New Zealand. With a First-class average of 10.33, Waugh was dropped for the next five matches. However, for the final four matches of the season, Waugh was recalled to the team as a front-line fast bowler and middle order batsman. He took 4/130 in the first innings against Queensland in his first match in the role. They were his first First-class wickets. His bowling was characterised by his liberal use of short-pitched bowling. In the next match against Tasmania, Waugh opened the bowling with Mike Whitney, due to injuries to other bowlers, taking 2/31 in the first innings. Waugh then took 3/49 in the final round robin match against Queensland, before the teams met again in the Sheffield Shield final at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Whitney and Waugh were New South Wales' only pacemen and Waugh bowled 27 overs to take 1/71. Batting at No. 7, Waugh was involved in a century stand with Greg Dyer to help avoid the follow on with 41. Waugh made only 24 in the second innings as the home team hung on for a draw to secure the Shield. Waugh had scored 167 runs at 15.18 and took 11 wickets at 32.00 for the season. He played in one limited overs match, scoring 13 and taking 1/28 against Victoria.At this stage of his career, Waugh lived in the shadow of his brother Steve, who was promoted to the Australian team at the age of 20. As a result, Mark was sometimes called Afghan, a reference to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, sometimes dubbed the "forgotten war". Building up an impressive record at First-class level, Waugh spent two seasons with English county Essex as the team's successor to Allan Border as an overseas professional. In 1987–88 and 1989–90, he was voted the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year.
In mid-1988, Waugh was signed to replace Australian captain Allan Border for a six-week stint as the overseas professional at Essex County Cricket Club in England, after just one full season of Sheffield Shield. Border had to leave before the end of the season because of the Australian tour of Pakistan and had recommended Waugh, who arrived with high expectations. Essex were one of the strongest teams in England and Border had scored six centuries that season. Waugh's debut came in August in a limited overs match against Nottinghamshire at Colchester. After struggling at the start of his innings, Waugh found his rhythm and reached 103 from only 94 balls, accumulating his second 50 in just 28 balls. He ended with 15 fours and a six and then took 2/16 with the ball. Waugh played in three First-class matches, scoring 178 runs at 44.50. His performances were enough to prompt Essex officials to invite him to return for the 1989 season. Waugh accepted, subject to him not being selected for the 1989 Ashes tour of England with the national side.
In the longer form, Waugh continued to be overlooked and was criticised for his apparently casual attitude. Simpson, now the Australia coach, criticised Waugh, believing that he was not fully exploiting his talent. He scored only one half-century in the remainder of the First-class season, ending the season with 727 First-class runs at 40.39. He did not take a wicket for the season. He was overlooked for the 1989 Ashes tour.
In 1989, Waugh returned to Essex for his first full season as the overseas professional. He began slowly with a 77 against Derbyshire being his only score beyond 50 in his first six innings. He then scored 92 and took 3/23 against Cambridge University and then three fifties in the next six innings, including 89 not out against Leicestershire. Waugh then broke through for his first First-class county century, scoring 109 at Ilford in late June against Hampshire, whose pace attack was led by Malcolm Marshall. He then scored 112 not out against Glamorgan in a one-dayer, but had another lean run in the County Championship, failing to pass 30 in nine consecutive innings. Waugh returned to form with 110 against Middlesex, before scoring an unbeaten century against Australia in a tour match. He scored 100 from 165 deliveries, while Steve reached his century in 101 balls for Australia. Waugh finished his season with 165 against Leicester. He had scored 1537 runs at 43.91. He took 31 catches in 24 matches and took 14 wickets at 29.62. Essex finished second in the County Championship, six points behind Worcestershire. They would have won were it not for the 25-point penalty that was incurred for pitch-doctoring. Essex paid Waugh and his teammates championship-winning bonuses, indicating their belief that they were the rightful champions. Essex reached the final of the Benson & Hedges Cup against Nottinghamshire. Waugh made 41 from 58 balls before his team lost after conceding the winning runs from the last ball of the match.
In the first Sheffield Shield match of the season, Waugh scored 172 from 301 balls, his highest First-class score to date. He hit 20 boundaries. He then struck 42 and took three wickets against Sri Lanka, but was overlooked for the Test against New Zealand. He scored 46 and 18 and took 1/31 and 2/34 against Queensland, before striking and unbeaten 100 against Victoria. Despite this Waugh was not selected for the opening phase of the season's ODI tournament. At the start of 1990, he went three innings without passing 30, before striking another unbeaten century against Victoria. New South Wales was then sent in at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Waugh struck 137 from 185 runs on the first day, including a six from Peter Sleep that narrowly missed the clock tower. The Sydney Morning Herald opined that "Waugh would imperiously render them obsolete, going over, between and sometimes through them".
Waugh returned to state duty and New South Wales needed to beat Tasmania in their last match to qualify for the final. They were struggling at 3/33 in reply to Tasmania's 117 when Waugh came to the crease and made 198 not out from 390 balls. New South Wales won by an innings to reach the Shield final against Queensland. Waugh scored an unbeaten 78 in the second innings as his team won the title. Waugh ended the Sheffield Shield as the top-scorer, with 967 runs at 80.85, prompting the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to select him as its Player of the Year. It noted that Waugh's "characteristic blend of dash and elegance...seemed to be reinforced now by extra application and determination."
In 1990, Waugh and his brother combined in an unbeaten partnership of 464 in 407 minutes for New South Wales against Western Australia at the WACA Ground, setting a world First-class record for the fifth wicket. Both teams were at full strength and Western Australia's attack included Test bowlers Terry Alderman, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews. The twins ended unbeaten with 216 and 229 respectively.
On the tour of England in 1993, Waugh scored 174 against Surrey and reclaimed his Test position from Damien Martyn. He scored an ODI and a Test century in matches at Edgbaston.