At the Adelaide Oval on Friday, Steve and Mark Waugh will take the field together for the 100th time in a Test. Steve may have beaten his twin brother into the world by a matter of minutes, but he beat him into the Test team by a good five years, against India in 1985-86, and will be playing in his 143rd Test, second only to Allan Border (156) in the all-time list. Mark, who has long since shed his nickname "Afghan" (the forgotten Waugh), will be starting his 120th Test, and his 99th in a row.

Fiercely competitive when growing up, the brothers are not publicly close. But Steve, who has a keen sense of cricketing history, recognised the significance of the landmark. "It's nice for the family, for mum and dad - all the sacrifices they made with us growing up."

Steve was also surprised how many matches they had played together, thinking the mark was nearer 60 or 70. "Time does fly," he added. "We don't want to get too carried away about it at the moment but later on when we retire and look back on it, it will be significant."

The twins have compiled eight century-plus stands in Test cricket, the most famous of which was their partnership of 231 at Sabina Park, Kingston in 1994-95. Australia won the match by an innings and 53 runs, and with it the series, to become the first side to defeat the West Indies in 15 years and 29 series.

The next most prolific brotherly partnership in Test cricket is that of Andy and Grant Flower (54 Tests for Zimbabwe). Jeff and Martin Crowe played together 34 times for New Zealand, and Mushtaq and Sadiq Mohammad played 26 times for Pakistan.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd