Protected Shane Warne By Dropping Him: Steve Waugh On His Controversial Decision In 1999 West Indies Test
Published - 05 Jul 2020, 01:51 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:31 AM
Steve Waugh believes a captain needs to take difficult decisions and he did so right from the onset of his captaincy stint. Steve Waugh dropped leg-spinner Shane Warne in his first tour to the West Indies as a captain. For Waugh it was an instinctive decision and produced the right result for the touring side.
Steve Waugh was at the centre of resurgence for Australian cricket in the 20th century. He retired with 10927 runs in Test cricket at an average of 51.06. He hit 32 centuries and 52 half-centuries in the format. In the ODIs, he featured in 325 matches for Australia, scoring over 7000 runs. He had a brilliant record as a Test captain with 71.92% of wins.
Steve Waugh: my head would have been on the chopping blocks, but thankfully we won the Test
Waugh opted to go with Colin Miller and Stuart Macgill instead of Warne in the final Test against the West Indies. Australia were trailing 1-2 in the Test series with the final match becoming a must win contest. Waugh admitted that his head would have been on the chopping block had Australia lost the match but also said that he made the decision to protect Warne as he was not at his best.
“You’ve got to trust your get instinct sometimes. Other people are always going to have their opinions. It was never going to be a popular decision, and had we lost the Test, my head would have been on the chopping blocks, but thankfully we won the Test and end up drawing the series,” Waugh told former England captain Michael Atheron on Sky Sports Cricket Youtube channel.
“Looking back, I think it was the right decision, but it was also the making of me as a captain because I can make that big decision that was not going to be easy but I knew it was beneficial for the team at the time. In a lot of way, I was trying to protect Shane, because he wasn’t bowling well at the time. Obviously, he didn’t see that way, but if we had gone on to lose on the next Test, it wouldn’t have been good for anyone,” he added.
Australia won the final Test by 176 runs to draw the Test series level at 2-2.
