India Next for Waugh With No Exit Strategy

It seems like only a year ago I was writing off Steve Waugh's Test career. Not that I was alone. Even one glorious century, possibly his best, in the final Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, did not seem enough to convince commentators he was worth a place in Australia's team to tour the Caribbean.

But tour he did, and prospered.

Then he returned, and faltered. Out came the knives again. Twin Mark had already gone and Steve had been jettisoned from the World Cup one-day team. There hardly seemed a way back for the Waugh clan.

This summer, though, as the one-day side has carried on winning handsomely in India without them, Steve Waugh, at 38, has conjured up yet another remarkable reply to those who would have him leave quietly.

The one goal he has left is a series win in India, something no Australia team has managed since Waugh wore shorts. It looks like it will come down to a head-to-head showdown with the next bright young thing of Australian batting, Michael Clarke, who has been starring in India.

In making his case, the only way he knows how, Waugh has tucked into some admittedly ordinary domestic bowling with enthusiasm that belies his years.

He hit his third century of the summer for New South Wales against Tasmania last week, and is averaging more than 100. Just as significantly, he is talking more aggressively about his future than even last winter, when he let his many friends in the media carry his case for him.

In an interview yesterday, Waugh, who has played in 164 Tests and averages over 50, sounded like a young colt arriving at a racecourse for his first big race. 'The way I'm playing now is the best I've ever played,' he said. 'Physically and mentally, I could play for another five years. But there's got to be a point to it.'

That's the subtle, trademark Waugh hint to both the public and the selectors. If he is to carry on, he needs the incentive of Test cricket. It is the reason Mark announced recently that this would be his last season playing for New South Wales.

And again Steve has been talking to the chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, the man who cut short his one-day career but kept faith in him as a Test player. He admits they don't always agree - and you can be sure the subject in question is Waugh's future as an international cricketer.

Last year, he refrained from making an overt plea to be picked. Now, he sounds more anxious. 'If I had my wish,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald , 'it would be to be in Kolkata and to win that series. But I'm not sure it's going to happen.'

As he says, cricket is in his blood. And so, as we know, is pumping out tour books and autobiographies, the latest of which came out recently. Therein, he says of English cricket that there is a certain lack of passion sometimes; perhaps he was listening to Martin Johnson winding up England's preparation for today's Rugby World Cup semi-final. Johnson uttered similar sentiments about the rugby union team, the first real signs of division in the squad.

Waugh, like Johnson, finds inspiration in adversity. He invites an argument. 'I've always expected it. I've always wanted it. If you give it out, you've got to take it. If the game meanders along, and is over-friendly, I'm going to struggle. I need something to get me on edge.'

Right. But it makes the latest players' code of conduct issued here a couple of weeks ago sound a bit lame. According to the pledge given by the players, all exchanges on the field should be conducted without malice. Give me a break. Waugh, who redefined sledging as the rendering of 'mental disintegration' in opponents is hardly going to subscribe to a programme of niceness. 'How do you do, Mr Tendulkar. Please help yourself to a hundred in the absence of our leading strike bowlers.'

Which brings us to the other major conundrum in Australian cricket: Shane Warne. While Waugh has been piling up runs to make his case for a recall, the world's finest spinner has been spinning tales of misunderstanding in nightclubs during his one-year suspension. His nemesis now is not Tendulkar's bat but the text-messaging he indulges in on his mobile phone, most of it, apparently, on the risqué side.

Warne's wife has stood by him. But, in his absence from the Australian team, Stuart MacGill has made the most of his opportunities. He bowled well in the West Indies and has held his place without serious challenge.

The question now is, will Warne displace MacGill when he is eligible for selection early next year, about the time Australia leave for India and Sri Lanka? Those who have faith in his genius say it is impossible to leave him out. Those who have taken a set against him for his off-field behaviour are quick to say, no, his time has come and gone.

The dilemma for the selectors is that leaving him out might inspire him to the same heights with the ball as Waugh has managed with the bat. Which is no sort of dilemma at all, when you think about it.

I was wrong last winter about Waugh. And, in the literal and metaphorical sense, I have a feeling he and Warne will defy the critics again for one last Indian summer.