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Waugh v Cronje Wisden CricInfo staff - February 15, 2002
Statistically speaking, Steve Waugh is the greatest captain in one-day history to be dumped for on-field reasons. A study of players who have captained in at least ten one-day internationals finds Waugh at eighth in the win-ratio table, behind those still going strong (Shaun Pollock and Waqar Younis), those who picked their time to leave (Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards), those who lost their job in disgrace (Hansie Cronje), and those whose alleged liaisons with the opposite sex cost them dear (Mike Gatting and Shane Warne). Interestingly, Warne has by far the highest win ratio of captains who've led in 10 games or more. His is 90.9%; the next highest is Clive Lloyd (75.9%). That's a big difference, but clearly not one that impressed the Australian selectors. As for Waugh, a comparison between his record and Cronje's -they are the most consistently successful one-day captains of recent times - throws up some notable contrasts. Under Waugh, Australia bagged the silverware in 10 out of 19 one-day series (53%) and seven out of 11 (64%) in series of three teams or more. For South Africa under Cronje, the figures were 14 out of 24 (58%) and nine out of 16 (56%). This suggests that Waugh's Australia had a greater propensity to rise to the big occasion, most notably the 1999 World Cup, and also the 1997-98 triangular tournament in Australia. In that, Waugh's first as captain, Cronje made a monkey of him in the field, and Waugh only got 12 runs in his first six innings. But Australia came good to win the best-of-three finals after losing the first match. Typically, Waugh was to the fore with 71 in the deciding match. Waugh's legacy to one-day cricket will turn out to be his positive, almost Test-match approach, which is now in vogue with the introduction of the new bouncer laws. Waugh was the man who lined up nine slips against Zimbabwe at Harare in 1999-2000, and made it fashionable - as well as highly productive - to strive for wickets in one-dayers. He employed a cordon of six at Old Trafford in the NatWest Series last year, when England were methodically dismantled for 86, their lowest one-day score. Indeed Waugh's Australia tended to skittle teams, and bowled sides out for less than 125 on 10 occasions during his tenure. Waugh's use of slips made it richly ironic that the decisive moment of the VB Series came when Michael Bevan was caught in the match that Australia were bossing against New Zealand at Sydney … at first slip. It turned a tight game New Zealand's way, and ultimately sealed Waugh's fate. If Waugh's Australia had the monopoly on hustling teams out, then Cronje's South Africa tended to nail the big victories: nine times they smashed teams by 100 runs or more - including five in the winter of 1995-96. Waugh's Australia only managed it three times. On average South Africa won under Cronje by 65 runs, or by 5.27 wickets. For Australia, the figures were 59 runs and 6.11 wickets. No wonder Australia could get away with having a fairly modest batsman like Ian Harvey at No. 7 - they hardly ever needed to use him. The table below shows the success rate of the ten most-capped one-day captains. Waugh has an eerily similar record as captain to Viv Richards: 106 matches, 68 wins for Richards; 106 matches, 67 wins for Waugh, plus of course the most famous winning tie in one-day history, against South Africa in the 1999 World Cup. The iceman will tell you that his chapter as Australian pyjama captain is not over yet, but though he may well be back as a batsman, even Waugh will struggle to get a 107th cap as Aussie captain.
Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com. © Wisden CricInfo Ltd |
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