da luck： SYDNEY – For years, Australian cricket lived by the adage that if allhelp seemed lost, there was always Steve Waugh.
Laine Clark26-Oct-2002SYDNEY – For years, Australian cricket lived by the adage that if allhelp seemed lost, there was always Steve Waugh.His self belief had not only rescued Australia countless times but alsotypified why his team held a vice-like grip on the world No.1 tag.But Waugh admits his recent form slump which threatened an unceremoniousdumping had come down to losing faith in the one who counted – himself.”I was putting pressure on myself because I wanted to score runs andsometimes you forget to trust yourself in certain situations,” Waughsaid upon arrival in Sydney last night from Australia’s 3-0 Test serieswin over Pakistan.”I went back to doing the same things I’ve always done and trustedmyself to know I would come good.”But sometimes you lose a bit of patience with that and it had been along time since I had failed so in some ways I had to re-learn theprocess of trusting yourself and knowing it will come good.”The back to basics approach worked – eventually.Waugh left it until the third and final Test against Pakistan in Sharjahthis week to throw off the shackles with an unbeaten 103 to cap offAustralia’s series whitewash.He ended his worst batting drought in 10 years in style, belting 20 runsoff one over to reach his 28th Test ton before the inevitable dismissalof tailender Glenn McGrath ended the innings.While he may have revived his career with the inspirational ton, Waughadmitted he would have to hang up his beloved, tattered baggy green”sooner rather than later”.”I am not looking too forward. I’m not going to put a deadline on when Iam going to stop, I’m just going to wait and see what happens,” he said.”It’s going to be sooner rather than later, that’s pretty obvious but Ihaven’t sat down with anyone and said ‘this is when I am going tofinish’.”Waugh – who averages around 60 against England – said he would speakwith chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns this weekend about the firstAshes Test team to be named on Monday and hoped he and his out of formbrother Mark would be in it.While hopeful that his brother would be retained, Waugh said he feltsorry for the unlucky paceman who would miss out at the first Testagainst England starting at Brisbane on November 7.”All our bowlers were outstanding. Andy Bichel was inspirational for us.He told me he has been on 13 tours and that was his first overseas Test(the third Test at Sharjah) so it’s great to see him do well and itappears he has found an extra yard of pace,” Waugh said.”And Brett Lee, I think he was excellent in the last innings, he reallygot it together and bowled quick with a good line.”While there may be changes to the Test line-up, don’t expect Waugh toalter his decaying yet loved baggy green hat – frayed brim and all.”That’s the way I love it. It’s got memories for me and means a lot tome that way,” he said.”It’s probably going to get worse but I love it that way, it’s gotcharacter and memories and it’s mine.”