da bet7： After a prolonged run drought – his worst in 10 years – Steve Waugh tookenormous satisfaction in proving he wasn’t ready for the scrapheap justyet.
Michael Donaldson21-Oct-2002SHARJAH – For moment it looked like Steve Waugh might lose it.During his press conference after making an unbeaten 103 againstPakistan in the third cricket Test, the Australian skipper looked readyto let some emotion squeeze through his defences.After a prolonged run drought – his worst in 10 years – Waugh tookenormous satisfaction in proving he wasn’t ready for the scrapheap justyet.Following his sacking from the one-day side, he’s been under a hugeamount of pressure as the Test failures mounted over the past year.So when he reached his century he made a show of pointing his bat to theteam area in a gesture of thanks.There was also some acknowledgement to his wife Lynette, who had been inSharjah with their daughter Rosalie for the past week. The pair flew outyesterday before play started.”I just thanked one or two people for their inspiration,” Waugh said.”I don’t want to single out anyone in particular but my wife, when shewas here, said one or two things that just helped me along and a coupleof guys in the side have been excellent.”This side’s got a lot of players who have a lot of depth to them andthey help you out when you’re struggling a bit.”At this point Waugh had to gather himself and there was no mistaking thefact that he was moved by the support he had received.Waugh also gave some insight into how he works – and to an extent howthe whole Australian team functions – when he said too muchencouragement and goodwill can sometimes have the opposite effect on aplayer.”You can feel the other players wanting you to do well but you don’twant too much of that feeling because it can be a bit overwhelming.”In some ways the players have to pull back a little bit just give yousome encouragement, have some words here and there, which some playershave done for me.”As always (inspiration) has to come from within,” Waugh added.”People can tell you as much as they like but if it doesn’t come fromwithin it’s not going to happen.”And it’s typical of Waugh, now that he’s ridden through the tough patch,to regard the past year, with its litany of failures and his axing fromthe one-day side, as a test of character.”You don’t want things to go well all the time – it’s not as satisfyingwhen you come back.”I like a challenge and in some ways you like it not to be smoothsailing all the time, you get complacent then and take it for granted.”For Waugh it didn’t get much better than yesterday.”I’ve always said I haven’t had my best moment in Test cricket butscoring a hundred with a six and the baggy green on top of your head -it doesn’t come much better than that,” he said.These day Waugh rarely bats in his cap and is usually wearing a helmet,but on a placid pitch against a dual spin attack he was wearing hisbeloved but tattered baggy green cap.And he can’t recall having brought up a Test century with a six, whichhe did yesterday as he moved from 83 to 103 with a premeditatedonslaught against legspinner Danish Kaneria, which netted two fours andtwo sixes in one over.Waugh also described his innings as one of his best, coming as it did atthe end of a barren period which he acknowledged had threatened toderail his captaincy.