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A Tribute to Steve Waugh by Sidharth Monga

A New South Welshman calls a press conference in Sydney and announces that the upcoming series is going to be his last in international cricket.

Miles away in India, an orphan house’s atmosphere turns morose. Visibly sad children pick up papers and pens to write letters to their beloved ‘Steve Da’.

Moving to the western extremes of India, in a border town of Rajasthan, a writer not privileged enough to write a letter to the man, just throws his head back on his couch and almost inadvertently takes a ride down the memory lane.

In an isolated corner of his mind, the writer sees a young man, roughly his age today, sitting dejected after scores of 0 & 1 at the Eden Park and taking a verbal bashing from John Bracewell; wondering if this was what he had worked so hard for. His day would surely come.

Suddenly, Headingley comes to the writer’s mind, which is the venue where this New South Welshman started making serious impressions, first as a batsman and years later, as a skipper.

Those frustrated bouncers, which hit a batter alright but couldn’t shake a heart, seem so helpless in the replays played in the writer’s mind.

Those intimidating fast bowlers come back to the mind, bowlers that moved closer and closer to a batsman searching for a confrontation or at least an eye contact but were always greeted by the dogged batsman’s back.

A red handkerchief dangling carelessly from a pocket; a man who got so soaked up by a test match win that he woke up in his whites, batting shoes and the ‘Baggygreen’; a rookie bowling the 49th over of a World Cup final and giving just 2 runs away; a skipper saying “We only need to win all the remaining matches to be the world champs” and doing that; a man scoring a century on one leg; a torn and battered ‘Baggygreen’ gracing a battle-hardened head; some surly cynics who disappeared every time they were disproved by the very same man; and all of a sudden, the writer realises he could write a book on the man.

Alas! He has only 4 matches left in his career. The mood turns somber and the writer calls his editor and tells him he is going to relive that New South Welshman’s career in six or seven separate pieces scattered over the length of the series which is his swan song.

Those intimidating fast bowlers come back to the mind, bowlers that moved closer and closer to a batsman searching for a confrontation or at least an eye contact but were always greeted by the dogged batsman’s back.

A red handkerchief dangling carelessly from a pocket; a man who got so soaked up by a test match win that he woke up in his whites, batting shoes and the ‘Baggygreen’; a rookie bowling the 49th over of a World Cup final and giving just 2 runs away; a skipper saying “We only need to win all the remaining matches to be the world champs” and doing that; a man scoring a century on one leg; a torn and battered ‘Baggygreen’ gracing a battle-hardened head; some surly cynics who disappeared every time they were disproved by the very same man; and all of a sudden, the writer realises he could write a book on the man.

Alas! He has only 4 matches left in his career. The mood turns somber and the writer calls his editor and tells him he is going to relive that New South Welshman’s career in six or seven separate pieces scattered over the length of the series which is his swan song.

This call from Steve is very uncharacteristic and at the same time, so very typical of him. I call this uncharacteristic because I can’t believe he is not having another crack at the ‘Final Frontier’. Ironically, I call this typical of him because on the surface, he is just 515 runs and 3 centuries short of reaching the pinnacle of test batting; of being the highest run and century getter of all time, a time when an ordinary man would have continued as long as the selectors allowed, all just for the heck of it; and normally, the selectors would have obliged such a legend. Then again Steve hasn’t been all about records; records have come just as by-products.

Steve Waugh, the winningest captain, the highest centurion for Australia, the second highest run-getter in the world, the most capped player in the world; and all these are only by-products. Yes I daresay these are only by-products, by-products to the single-mindedness, deep commitment, hatred of losing, articulate planning, a tough mind and above all a big heart.

Besides not giving overdue attention to personal milestones, by deciding to retire in January, he has issued himself another challenge that if he wants those records, he better go get them now. Over the years, Steve has been all about setting himself challenges and achieving them successfully. Who can, after 19 years of astonishment, rule out the chances of Steve getting both of those records in the upcoming series?

There’s only so much that can be said in one piece, there’s only so much numbers can represent, there’s only so much words can convey, the contributions of Waugh senior, contributions to cricket and life in general, will always stay undermined when put into words. If you have been a follower of his for a decent length of time, no matter where you go, a pair of cold, steely eyes will follow you, inspiring you; motivating you and telling you, “Never rule out miracles, rather make them happen”.
 

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