Yes, definitely he is eligible to be the captian for Australia. It all depends when Taylor will relinquish, as we know Taylor is still going great guns.(May be a lean patch now, but Taylor is going to come back very soon.)

As far as Steve Waugh is concerned, he is totally a matured person. Any side would definitely like to have him. Such a great Cricketer he is.

He may not be as attractive to watch as Tendulkar and Lara, but Steve Waugh has statistically surpassed these two over the last 4 years. These are the statistics for the trio since mid 1993;

    S. Waugh - 3067 runs at 74.80 with 8 centuries and 18 50s
     B. Lara - 2939 runs at 57.62 with 7 centuries and 14 50s
S. Tendulkar - 2012 runs at 54.37 with 6 centuries and  9 50s

Steve Waugh is one of among the best 5 allrounders . I link his both batting & Bowling. He is my favourite from 1987. At that time Steve & Greigh Mathiews were the 2 allrounders of australia and steve was very young at that time. He is a very good player , keeps cool & scores. Also he is a very good fielder also.

I am very sure that next Australian Captain will be Steve Waugh. Now a days Taylor is playing as if he don't know to bat and Healy is not that much effective. So steve was the right choice.

One hundred percent..!

Steve should have been named captain for the South African tour. He is the best choice for captaining Australia. He has a cool head and good leadership qualities.

Besides,Mark Taylor's batting seems to be beyond repair and another batsmen will boost the top order.

I believe Steve Waugh is ready for the Australian captaincy. Mark Taylor has not performed with the bat for a long time, he is no longer an asset to the team, he is more of a liability. Ian Healy among other things is not too popular and is no candidate for the HONESTY AWARD.

Anyway I think Steve has enough experience to captain the side, I wouldn't give it to the captaincy to Mark Waugh since I don't think he would cope with the added pressure.

1. He cannot handle himself in trouble
2. He is not consistant
3. He NEEDS CAPTAINCY HIMSELF, since most of the time he misbehaves almost all the time.

Steve Waugh IS the best current RUN-SCORER but by no means does that equate to being the current best batsman. The consumate batsman does need to have the tenacity, mental toughness and resilience of Steve, but the counterpart to those attributes have to be strokeplay, willingness to take risks, flair, and the ability to handle ALL types of bowling. Steve is only mentally tougher then Lara or Tendulkar because he has played many more test than either and has been remolded by down in the dumps (as he was as recently as 1992). Lara and Tendulkar are going through their "remolding" right now. The captaincy of a dsimal Indian side will either make or break Tendulkar (his recent brillliant 92 at at the haloed Kensington Oval shows hints of his re-emergence), and the pressure on Lara to restore the Windies to its former greatness by his bat (and probably soon by his wiles as a captain) will only serve to toughen him up in the end. Therefore, Lara and Tendulkar will be even more tenacious and mentally tough than Steve in a few more test series. However, Steve will never have the strokeplay, flair and natural talents of Lara or Tendulkar, because these are just that - natural talents. Though Steve could attempt to reach the higher real realm of Lara and Tendulkar by being a bit less risk-adverse (geez! you would think he was Blue English, he is so conservative), he will never be able to deal with the throat-seeking bouncers of the Windies bowlers or SA or Wasim for that matter (he would do well watching Sachin and Lara). Steve's greatest ally in his spectacular rise as a prolific scorer though, is his love affair with lady luck. He has to be the singularly most fortunate batsman around today, I guess that red rag does work after all. Steve Waugh has a twin brother (no I am not refering to his super stroke playing brother Mark) in the Windies current run-scoring machine Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Chanderpaul like Steve for Australia is currently the backbone if the Windies batting line-up, and can always be depended upon to put up runs albeit in a boring, utterly predictable and whole unexciting manner, again much like Steve. Ask any Windies selector and thay will tell you that the Windies cannot go to bat without Chandy, but ask any West Indian, and as much as we love Chandy, you will hear: "De boy can score runs, but he cyanut bat!". Look for Chandy to keep shooting up the Coopers & Lybrand ratings, since he is justifiable as good a run-scorer as Steve right now, and I personally would rate him better given that he is early in his career, anmd that he bat at #3 or #4, on the frontline, not back in the baracks like Steve. On another note, too all of those writing about Steves bowling, need I remeind you that the discussion is about his rating as the best BATSMAN? When I last checked ones bowling was not factored into the determination of batting ability. On a final note I would like to say to Steve, please buy some class. Heckling has no place in the sport of gentlemen (and gentlewomen), and why would you be so conservative and limited in your stroke play yet have such a wide rage in arsenal of insults for the likes of Ambrose (Mr. Class) and company? To quote that not so old line from Super Blue's Soca hit: " hands in de air! hats in de air! riase your bat for Lara, put up you bat for Lara". And to Sachin I say you are the Co-number one with the West Indian Maestro. To Steve I say you do good work with the bat, and you are an asset to the Aussie team, however, you should remember that we the paying public expect some sort of entertainment from the game, batting is a part of a SPORT, not an exercise in legislative drafting! To all the Lara-Tendulkar detractors out there I ask a simple question: "discounting the outcome of a match, would you rather see a typical 45 from Lara or Tendy or a typical 90 from Steve?" 'Nuff said, I rest my case!

Steve Waugh is such a lovable kid. I cannot beleive that he is 31 years old. It is a delightful entertainment to see him bat. But recently he has stopped bowling for health reasons. Being a slog over specialist in both bat and ball, he is indispensible tu Aussie cricket. He should not be given th eheadache of captaincy and curtail his abilities and talents by planning the attack etc., Let the captaincy be done by Taylor himself. Taylor will certainly find his form and lead Aussies to many more victories.

So it is our sincere opinion that though Steve is more than ready and is better equipped for the slot of a captain, for cricket sake and for his form sake, he should reject the dirty task of captaincy

Steve Waugh showed he is ready for the Oz captaincy as long ago as the World Cup semi-final last year. As any one who watched that match would have seen,Taylor seemed to be consulting him before every field placement and bowling change. Also he showed in SL last summer that the "pressures" of leadership had a positive effect on his game! So all in all, looks like the best thing Oz can do is appoint Steve captain (but I must say as a patriotic Indian that I don't look forward to Oz under Steve-or anyone else for that matter-beating India!) May the aussie selectors see some sense at last and appoint SWas captain for the next few years--at least, he is such a team man he will not keep on selecting himself the way TAylor has. Also,Australia can only benefit from his brains and the respect he commands from the younger players. Whoever described him as a right-handed version of Allan Border sure hit the nail on the head.

I certainly think that he is the right person for the job. He is one the most senior player in the Australian team. He has a cool head and has played his best when the team was in pressure. The best example was the way he played during the series win against West Indies in West Indies last season. He also takes on him the responsibility of the team during the pressure. he is also bold enough to bowl during the slog overs in the one dayers. he has all the quality that a captain should have. he is capable of motivating the team by his performance.

I think with captaincy his performance will inprove as a player.

No. Steve does not have what it takes for the captaincy. he is a gritty fighter who has done wonders for Australian cricket over the years, but he is not a natural leader of men. he appears too insular and withdrawn to fill the role properly. best he be left to do what he does best - save Australia's bacon when the chips are down.

Form loss or not, Mark Taylor is still the man to lead Australia to victory over England. His record as test captain says it all. As an avid Austrlalian fan, I can honestly say that I prefer to see Australia win a series 3-2 rather than 3-0 with 2 draws. Those games lost were invariably tough contests which were played to win. We never had that attitude under Allan Border and I fear that Steve Waugh is a Border protege.

Steve Waugh is easily the most cool headed of the Aussie blokes. Now that the Taylor days rae almost over, I guess S. Waugh would be the natural choice as a captain.

I am a great fan of his and would wish him all the best for many more years to come...

How could he be worse than Mark Taylor, who now cannot even catch the ball at slip. Australia has effectively been winning with one less player than the opposition.

BRING ON Steve Waugh!! (and get Ricky Ponting back!).

Steve Waugh would make an excellent captain for Australia. His temperamant is more stoic than that of his major rival to the role, Ian Healy, whose embarrasing outburst in the third test must surely disqualify him. Besides, it seems the demands on a keeper in the field are great enough. He need not be burdened by the extra responsibility that the cpataincy can place on him, thus robbing him of his full attention to his job behind the sumps. Even the best of them, Rod Marsh, was not elevated to this position, largely for this reason.

In the case of Waugh, he is the most experienced Aussie, and the most complete. Despite injury which has restricted his bowling in more recent times, his knowledge of the trade makes him a man both sympathetic to the needs of his bowlers, and at the same time someone who can command respect from teammates and foes alike. And of course, let us not forget, he is the best batsman in the world. That, in itself, should be enough to secure him the captaincy.

I think Steve Waugh is pure genius. So consistant. Steve Waugh is Pure Concentration Mark Waugh doesn't seem to concentrate like his brother but still Mark is fantastic. I think both brothers are brilliant. In choosing a world team both would be pencilled in first.

YES!! I have always felt that Steve Waugh was one of the most mature, talented and amazingly skilled player in the Australian squad.

It's time for his elevation to captaincy...especially given the poor record of Mark Taylor...the Aussies need someone inspirational to lead them!!