Matchless in his elegance
Michael Henderson
ENGLAND's cricketers began another series against Australia this week, knowing that they have not beaten their oldest opponents since 1987. Not many people expect them to win this time. Their side, though improving, remains green. Australia's players are more experienced, stronger in every consideration and, most important of all, more familiar with victory.
However much they may talk themselves up — and one expects nothing less than optimism — England's players know what they are up against in Australia. The grounds are bigger, the pitches are faster, the weather is hotter and the opponents less forgiving. Even though they have won the last seven contests, Australia will take nothing for granted. They enjoy winning far too much for that.
One of the reasons for their mastery is their lack of sentiment. Once a player is considered to be past his best, the selectors tend to look elsewhere, as Mark Waugh found out last week. The most handsome batsman in the world, and a thumpingly good player, Waugh was dropped from the side and immediately retired from international cricket.
He had a good run but. at 37, he knew that the sands of time were shifting. Only ten batsmen have scored more than his 8,029 Test runs, and nobody has held more than his 181 catches, many at second slip, where he was peerless. Certainly, he took the finest slip-catch I have ever seen, pulling the ball down from over his head on a freezing, two-sweater April day at Lord's a dozen years ago as though he were cherry-picking.
But it will be for his glorious batting that Waugh will be recalled. Once in a while, a player comes along who enchants spectators with stroke play of such beauty that everybody wants to see him bat all day. Tom Graveney was one such, David Gower another, and Waugh belonged in that category. Years ago, I dubbed him the Stan Getz of batsmanship' because, when he was on form, you always heard the tune.
England's bowlers might hold a less poetic view. Since he made a century against them, on his debut at Adelaide in 1991, Waugh's average score in Ashes Tests was 51. Last year, on his farewell appearance in England, he and his twin brother Stephen made centuries at the Oval. Having got to 100, 'Junior' toyed with the bowlers for a few giddy overs and then got himself out. Have two brothers ever been more different? While Mark was playful, and apt to surrender his wicket to careless strokes, Stephen has never made a gift of anything in his life. He remains the captain of Australia, and few cricketers have been more relentless. Dropped from the one-day team, he will probably follow Mark into retirement after the final Test of the current series, at Sydney, his home ground.
Stephen has achieved greatness. Mark, though he played great innings, probably belonged among the ranks of the very good — or the very, very good. But, for sheer pleasure, he was the most eminent batsman of his generation. Few Australians are so elegant. It is not a quality that one associates with their finest players. Waugh was matchless in his elegance, and was loved for it.
His passing deprives the game of one of its most precious adornments. In time, we may become acquainted with a player of comparable grace, but right now there is a hole in the Australian middle order. He was a gorgeous cricketer, and he will be missed.
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