Steve Waugh

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Lore & Background

Born at Canterbury Hospital in Campsie, a suburb in South-Western Sydney on 2 June 1965, Waugh was one of twin boys born to Rodger and Beverley Waugh. He arrived four minutes before Mark, who went on to play cricket for Australia alongside him. Their father was a bank official and his mother was a teacher within the New South Wales Department of Education. The family settled in the South-Western Sydney suburb of Panania. The twins were later joined by two more brothers, Dean (who also went on to play first-class cricket in Australia) and Danny (who played first grade cricket for Sydney University Cricket Club). 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 North Coast 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 for 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 the school tennis team that came second in the state in their final year. In his final year, Steve was the vice-captain of the cricket team and captained the state soccer team. The twins were instrumental in New South Wales winning t

In Their Own Story

During the 1986–87 series against England, Waugh displayed resilience despite Australia's struggles. In the Second Test at Perth, after scoring 71 in the first innings, he took match figures of 5/159, including a devastating 5/69 in the second innings. He followed this with a score of 79 not out in the drawn Third Test at Adelaide and contributed scores of 49 and 73 in the final two matches. Later, as captain, he led Australia to fifteen consecutive Test wins, a record run that cemented his status as the most successful Test captain in history with 41 victories and a winning ratio of 72%. His leadership was described by The Times columnist Simon Barnes in 2003 as 'cold-blooded' and 'scientific,' noting that Waugh 'wants to defeat you personally.' This ruthlessness extended to his personal dedication; he became the world number one all-rounder until back issues forced him to stop bowling, allowing him to focus on batting. He finished with 168 Test appearances, holding the record for most capped player until Sachin Tendulkar broke it in 2010.

Reader's Guide

Waugh made his first-class debut for New South Wales (NSW) in 1984–85, batting at number nine and bowling medium pace. In the Sheffield Shield final that season, he scored 71 while batting with the tail to help NSW to victory. After ten first-class matches for NSW, he made his Test debut against India in the 1985–86 season, in the Second Test at Melbourne. He scored 13 and 5 and took 2/36 in the first innings. Failing to make a substantial score in the series (he tallied 26 runs in four innings), Waugh was retained for the subsequent tour of New Zealand. He had a good all-round match in the Second Test at Christchurch, making 74 and claiming 4/56, but his batting average was only 17.40 for the series, scoring 86 runs. Waugh had more success in the one-day format during the season. He made his debut against New Zealand at the MCG and took 1/13 and a catch. He did not bat as the match was washed out. He was retained for all of Australia's 12 matches in the triangular tournament, scoring 266 runs at 38.00 with two half-centuries, including a top score of 81 in the Australia Day victory over India. He took seven wickets.

Did You Know?

• Steve Waugh was born four minutes before his twin brother Mark.
• He was named Australian of the Year in 2004 for his philanthropic work.
• Waugh is one of only fourteen players to have scored more than 10,000 Test runs.
• He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2010 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.