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Opinion
There was a recent story where Shane Warne discovered that Steve Waugh was involved in 104 run outs in international cricket, but was dismissed in only 31 of the incidents.
That is a long way under the 50-ish per cent you would expect, and Warne used this to prolong his post-retirement hobby of saying Steve Waugh is selfish in varying ways.
Steve Waugh declined to comment.
Happier times for Warnie and Steve Waugh. (Photo by Neal Simpson/EMPICS via Getty Images)
The non-response makes me wonder, what good is a baited hook when the fish won’t bite? What is the use of a red rag without the charging bull?
I don’t know the answer about fishing, but Steve Waugh’s feelings on red rags are pretty well known. They are extremely useful for tucking into the waistband of your cricket trousers for easy access to wipe the sweat from your brow during a series-winning century at Sabina Park.
But is Steve Waugh actually selfish?
I went to YouTube and watched 66 dismissals to find out. I assume the seven I couldn’t view come from international tours in the 1980s and early 1990s that were not filmed. I looked at each dismissal and tried to determine whether it was Waugh or his batting partner at fault.
Here are ten things I learnt.
1. Steve Waugh is not a selfish player
This is the most important learning of all.
From the 66 dismissals, there were five instances where it was clearly neither batsman’s fault. For the other 61 dismissals, most involved obvious blame, but sometimes it wasn’t clear for a range of reasons – lack of context about the match situation, poor camera angles, poor sound and vision quality, and uncertainty about the exact nature of the miscommunication between the players. In those cases I made a subjective judgment, rather than sit on the fence a dozen or more times.
After doing this, by my count Waugh was at fault 26 times, but his partners were responsible for their own downfall 35 times.
2. Jonty Rhodes is maybe the greatest cover fielder of all time
Of the five no-fault dismissals, three involved a tail-ender being run out in the last over on an ODI or attempting to farm the strike to Waugh. The other two times involved Allan Border: one where a straight drive brushes the bowler’s fingertips, which is always a fluke, but another where Jonty Rhodes is just far too good for any batting pair.
There was a lot of great ground fielding and throws from various cricketers among the dismissals. My favourite is a teenager named Sachin Tendulkar charging in from the deep while wearing an oversized white cap – but only Rhodes left me contemplating that there was no escape from losing a wicket in that moment.
3. The stories about the Waugh brothers running between the wickets badly are true
Mark Waugh was run out eight times batting with Steve, twice as many times as anyone else. Almost all of them were them were horrible, out by half-the-pitch mix-ups.
In their defence, Mark probably batted with Steve more than anyone else in his international career. Also, batting together from childhood probably means they were able to steal a lot of extra runs in situations less familiar batting pairs wouldn’t have attempted. But when it went wrong, it really went wrong.
4. The other most common Waugh victims are…
With four dismissals each: Michael Bevan, David Boon, Allan Border and Simon O’Donnell.
I’ve already highlighted that Border was unlucky to fall victim to a touched straight drive and Jonty Rhodes. Bevan and Waugh were about half-half on the blame, while O’Donnell was mostly pushing with Waugh for extra runs late in one-day innings. Only David Boon can claim to have been run out by Waugh every time.
5. Speed kills
Michael Bevan, Dean Jones and Mike Veletta each ran themselves out twice, attempting ones nobody without their pace and confidence would even attempt. So you can be too fast.
6. But slow and steady also does not win the race
Steve Waugh is not Bevan quick, but he has a decent motor, even in his later years when hampered by earlier injuries to his back, groin and hamstring. Those that get left behind are normally lumbering fast bowlers on the second or third run: Jo Angel, Brendan Julian, and Merv Hughes.
(Clive Mason /Allsport)
7. Late 1980s ODI running could be comically bad
A lot of the times Steve Waugh runs people out early in his career are remarkably similar. The other batsman hits the ball to wide mid-on in a World Series Cricket match, and the fielder from short midwicket cuts off the angle and throws down the stumps. Over and over again.
It was like the running hadn’t quite adjusted to improved fielding standards. I do recall Allan Border running out many batsmen the same way when it was Australia’s turn to field. The instances of this type of run out are far less frequent as Waugh’s career moves forward.
8. Don’t take on the fielder’s arm outside Australian grounds
Another common dismissal is going for a second or third run on the smaller grounds outside Australia, especially in the Caribbean.
9. The typical Steve Waugh at-fault run out is…
Waugh is on strike, and taps the ball off the back foot into the area just behind square on the off side. This is already a black spot for uncertainty about calling responsibility between batsmen. From here, Waugh often does one of two things to compound the uncertainty that leads to his partners demise.
The first is that he will take a step or two with no intention of running, only to see his partner has come for the run and is now trying to turn back mid-pitch.
The second is that Waugh will call and sprint without reply, leaving his ball-watching or more cautious partner high and dry at the keeper’s end.
10. Finally, the least surprising thing from watching 66 dismissals…
Is that a cricketer nicknamed ‘Fat Cat’ struggled running between the wickets.
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