Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger Waugh, born on 2 June 1965, is a former Australian international cricketer and the twin brother of fellow cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman and medium-pace bowler, he is widely regarded as one of the sport’s all-time greats. He was part of the Australian squad that claimed the nation’s first World Cup title in 1987. Serving as Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, Waugh guided the team to fifteen of their record sixteen consecutive Test wins and led them to victory in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. He is widely seen as the most successful Test captain ever, with 41 wins and a winning rate of 72%.

Born in New South Wales, Waugh began his first-class cricket career there in 1984. He captained the Australian Test side from 1999 to 2004 and held the record for most Test appearances—168 matches—until Sachin Tendulkar surpassed it in 2010. At his peak, Waugh was the world’s top-ranked all-rounder in both Test and One Day International cricket, but persistent back problems forced him to stop bowling. He then focused solely on batting and became one of the era’s leading batsmen. He is one of only fourteen players to have scored over 10,000 Test runs.

In 2004, Waugh was named Australian of the Year for his philanthropic work. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2010 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of his home crowd. He has also been named one of Australia’s 100 Living Treasures by the National Trust of Australia, and has received the Order of Australia and the Australian Sports Medal. Known as an aggressive and often ruthlessly efficient captain, he was described in 2003 as a “cold-blooded, scientific” leader. Cricket columnist Simon Barnes of *The Times* noted that “Waugh wants to defeat you personally.” After his final Test match, his teammates carried him on a lap of honour around the Sydney Cricket Ground. In a 2017 fan poll by Cricket Australia, he was named in the country’s best Ashes XI of the last 40 years.

**Early and personal life** Waugh was born at Canterbury Hospital in Campsie, a suburb in south-western Sydney, on 2 June 1965, one of twin boys born to Rodger and Beverley Waugh. He arrived four minutes before his brother Mark, who later played alongside him for Australia. Their father worked as a bank official, and their mother was a teacher for the New South Wales Department of Education. The family settled in the south-western Sydney suburb of Panania. The twins later gained two more brothers: Dean, who also played first-class cricket in Australia, and Danny, who played first-grade cricket for Sydney University Cricket Club. From a young age, their parents encouraged them in sports. By age six, the twins were playing organised soccer, tennis, and cricket. In their first cricket match, both brothers were dismissed for a duck.

The twins came from a sporting family. Their paternal grandfather, Edward, was a greyhound trainer. Raised in the North Coast town of Bangalow, Edward was selected for the New South Wales Country rugby league team and was about to join Eastern Suburbs in the NSW Rugby League before family reasons ended his career. Rodger, Edward’s only son, was a promising tennis player ranked eighth in Australia as a junior and the state under-14 champion. 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 for Bankstown in Sydney Grade Cricket and remains the club’s all-time leading run-scorer.

The twins made their first representative cricket team when selected for the Bankstown District under-10s at age eight. In 1976, they became the youngest ever chosen for the New South Wales Primary Schools’ soccer team. Playing for Panania Primary School, they helped their school win the Umbro International Shield, a statewide knockout soccer competition, scoring all three goals in the final. They were key players in their school’s consecutive state cricket championships and part of the school tennis team that placed second in the state in their final year. In that final year, Steve served as vice-captain of the cricket team and captained the state soccer team. The twins were instrumental in New South Wales winning the cricket carnival undefeated; in one match, they combined for a 150-run partnership.

By this time, increasing time demands created conflicts between sports, and they were once dropped from a team due to scheduling clashes. The twins progressed to East Hills Boys Technology High School, a school with a history of producing Australian international representatives in multiple sports.

At age 13, the twins were invited by their uncle Bourne—then captain of Bankstown’s first-grade team—to trial for the club’s under-16 Green Shield team, and both were selected. At fourteen, they made their senior grade cricket debut in the 1979–1980 season, playing in the Fourth XI. That same season, they broke into East Hills Boys’ First XI in cricket and achieved the same level in soccer. In 1980–81, the brothers were promoted to the Third XI mid-season.

The brothers often operated as a two-man team; in one match, they took 16 wickets for 85 runs between them. At the end of 1980, the twins were selected for the state under-16 team at the national carnival. They briefly switched soccer teams to play reserve grade for Sydney Croatia in the state league, earning small payments in the professional league, but soon left as their cricket commitments grew.

The brothers were promoted to Bankstown’s Second XI and then selected for the First XI in the 1982–83 season at age 17, both debuting against Western Suburbs. However, Waugh was later dropped back to the Second XI. He was regarded as an aggressive player.