The Steve Waugh Interview

[NickiSlater]

'My biggest achievements are still to come'
Samanth Subramanian - August 20, 2003

From Cochin, to Bangalore, to Hyderabad, to Chennai. Steve Waugh is on a whirlwind promotional tour of India, and for the fourth time in as many days, he answered questions at a packed press conference that had more to do with cricket, his career and India's upcoming tour than the product he was endorsing. Here are some of the excerpts:

How do you rate India's chances in Australia later this year?
Well, I think India's got a very good side, with a lot of experience. Their batsmen have played a lot of Test matches, and they've gotten pretty used to playing in overseas conditions. I think they're a strong unit; they're well-led, they did very well in the World Cup, their confidence is pretty high, and they have a good coach.

You talked about India being well-led. How do you think Sourav Ganguly has changed as a captain since you last played against him in a series?
It's hard for me to comment too much, because I haven't played against him as often, only watched him on TV. But I think the message that he and John Wright are trying to put across is to do well overseas. That's been India's Achilles heel over the years – they're very good at playing in India, but once they're away from home, they're not so good, and that's something they want to change. As I said, they're now an experienced side, they seem to have a vision and a goal of where they want to go. I think Ganguly is more confident in his role as captain. Of course, it's a difficult job and takes some getting used to.

How well do you think Sachin Tendulkar is playing now? Do you think he's playing at his best?
Well, I hope he's not, because we'll be playing him shortly. I predict that he will play very well against Australia. He loves to lift himself against the best sides in the world, and that's when he plays his best cricket. That's what great players do. He's got plenty of Test centuries and plenty of one-day centuries, it's an amazing record, and I suspect that he will score a hundred hundreds in international cricket and set records that last a long time.

You've been quoted as asking people to leave Shane Warne alone, to allow him to reconstruct his career. As a public figure, don't you think Warne has a responsibility to set an example for the cricket world?
What I was saying was that Shane needs time to sort things out with his family. I don't know the facts, and you don't know the facts. Shane knows what's going on, and it's a private matter. I support Shane as a teammate; I don't necessarily know what's going on, but as a person, I like him, I respect him, he's my friend. It's as simple as that.

Sunil Gavaskar recently marked out the Australians as championing the culture of sledging. Do you think his comments were accurate?
A lot of people continue to talk about sledging today, but they don't give any details on what it is or what's happening. Australia play hard and fair, and occasionally things may get out of control – there's been one recent example of that – but most times that doesn't occur. When you're a tough side, you tend to get scrutinised a lot. I think it's unfair to single us out; we work very hard at what we're doing. The last West Indies series was a good series; the guys got on very well off the field, we talked cricket with the younger players, I gave away my kit at the end of the tour. That stuff doesn't get in the papers.

There are a lot of good things happening in cricket, and I think the people in charge of the game should be focusing more on the good things rather than the occasional incident. There is too much made out of little issues. The McGrath-Sarwan incident was 30 seconds on the field, but it is still being discussed three months later.

John Buchanan recently talked about how Australia creates a siege mentality in the opposition on the field. What exactly is that? How do you go about it?
Well, we basically look to create pressure and build it up in certain ways. But we do that more by the way we play and our body language, by being positive and playing with intent. In certain cases, when we play positively, I think it can disorientate teams and make them struggle. So if that happens, that's a positive thing for us.

When you come in as a batsman with the team on 20 for 4, what do you tell yourself to face the situation?
I say to myself: "This is a great challenge." Not that it's a great thing for your side to be 20 for 4, but that's the inspiration. You've worked hard for all those years, you've trained hard, and you want to put yourself in a position where you can really test yourself out - 20 for 4 is one such situation, and I just say to myself that this is a great opportunity to do well for the side and turn this game around. I see it as a positive thing and try to embrace the situation. I also try to put the pressure back on the opposition, because they're in a good position, so maybe they'll relax a bit.

What about when you get hit on the helmet, or beaten three times in an over?
As long as it doesn't break any bones, I don't mind. Sometimes I like getting hit, because it gets you sharp and focused, and you know that if you don't stay alert, you're going to get injured. I remember in the Test against Bangladesh at Darwin, a fieldsman threw a ball that hit me in the back. It just sort of stung a bit, but sometimes it takes something like that just to get you going.

What did you think of Bangladesh's performances?
I think they did pretty well against us. I actually enjoyed the series, and they've certainly improved. They have a series against Pakistan coming up; you hope that they show some improvement, and I think they will.

You made a century against Bangladesh in the first Test, and another in the second. Ed Smith recently talked about how his string of centuries was inspired by watching you bat in county cricket. Where does that kind of motivation, that hunger for runs, come from?
It comes about because it's better batting out there than sitting and watching. I enjoy the batting, so I go out there and try to get runs every time. I just give my attention to the next ball; that's the way I've always played. You keep trying to improve, to get better.

Did you think you'd achieve this kind of success when you started playing international cricket?
Well, I was at a function the other night in Bangalore, and Syed Kirmani, who played in my debut Test, was there too. I was just telling him how nervous I was in my first Test, in front of 70,000 people, against an Indian team with experienced players like Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Kirmani. All these guys would have had five or six hundred Tests between them, while we'd have had about 150 Tests between us, out of which Allan Border probably played in 120! It was a nerve-racking experience, and I was just happy to get a single off Kapil and get off the mark.

How do you think the game has changed between when you started playing and now?
The game's more professional, to start with. It's scrutinised a lot more, but it's more enjoyable for us now too, because we are very serious about what we're doing. It's a bigger game worldwide; there's a lot more interest in it. It's a great game, and mostly, I think it's changed for the better.

What do you see as your biggest cricketing achievement, personally and as a part of the team?
It's hard to say, because I think my biggest achievements are still to come. That's why I keep playing. Personally, being part of two World Cup-winning teams, the double-hundred in the West Indies, the hundred in Sydney last year when I was under a lot of pressure. As a captain, I guess leaving behind my style of aggressive, positive and fair play. But it's not really for me to say what my biggest achievements will be. I think people will judge that afterwards.