Australian captain Steve Waugh says he couldn't be much happier after scoring 84 in a successful return to cricket today in his only game prior to next week's first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane.

Playing his first match of the season after a bout of deep vein thrombosis, Waugh batted for 163 minutes for his Sydney club Bankstown against competition leader Fairfield-Liverpool at Bankstown Oval.

He showed no lingering effects of the torn calf which dogged him at the end of the Ashes campaign as he struck 12 crisp boundaries in his in his 113 ball innings.

Watchful to start with, Waugh took 36 balls in almost 70 minutes to score his first four and was initially outpaced by batting partner Graeme Smith who made 76 in their third wicket stand of 162 in 141 minutes.

The 36-year-old batsman upped the tempo with six fours in little more than 30 minutes before tea and scored rapidly after the resumption.

He meted out punishment to NSW squad bowlers, Don Nash, Grant Lambert and Anthony Clark before Clark bowled him.

Waugh said the wicket was very flat and good for batting and gave himself an "eight or nine" out of 10 as he felt he didn't do a lot wrong.

"The first hour or so, I was just trying to get a bit of match practice. I've been in the nets but obviously haven't played for a while, so it was nice to spend some time in the middle," Waugh said.

"After that, I thought I hit the ball pretty well, so I couldn't really be much happier."

Waugh said he felt really good after his innings and wasn't tired and could have batted a lot longer without any problem.

"You're always a bit apprehensive when you come back after a long layoff but it felt really good. There was no sign of anything untoward and I was very happy with the way it went," Waugh said.

He admitted he was a little bit apprehensive setting out for his first few runs following his recent injury problem, though he emphasised he had done plenty of leadup work in recent weeks.

"I've done a fair bit of running in the past two weeks so I felt confident it would be okay, but you never really know until you get out there," Waugh said.

Waugh was unlikely to get another hit tomorrow with Bankstown declaring at 9-374 shortly before stumps.

He quipped he would probably spend tomorrow hiding in the gully.

"I'm very happy with the way things went and as long as everything goes right tomorrow I will definitely be up in Brisbane," Waugh said.

Test paceman Brett Lee, who has also just returned from injury gained valuable match practice for Mosman in another Sydney grade game against Hawkesbury.

Lee bowled two spells of five and seven overs and earned an lbw decision in each to finish with figures of 2-45 off 12.

© 2001 AAP