Steve Waugh visits a home for leprosy-afflicted children on the outskirts of Calcutta As the long, white luxury limousine pulled up at the MRF Pace Foundation, pandemonium broke loose

Roving Reporter by Anand Vasu04-Jul-2003

Steve Waugh visits a home for leprosy-afflicted children on the outskirts of Calcutta

As the long, white luxury limousine pulled up at the MRF Pace Foundation, pandemonium broke loose. For the first time in a week, the combined celebrity of Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee was dismissed to the background as Stephen Waugh stepped out into a throng of excited children. Photographers scrambled to get the best angles, administrators cleared out a net and its surrounds, and Waugh surveyed the park.After swiftly changing into spotless new MRF gear, Waugh took guard, facing up to bowlers who were obviously nervous. Several awestruck young men sprayed the ball all over the place, only to be greeted with a meaty thump of the bat whenever they were on target. With a mat stretched tightly over a hard concrete wicket, the ball came onto the bat well – you could tell Waugh enjoyed that – as the hopefuls bent their backs.Then, out of the blue, Waugh was wrong-footed. Bowling off a shortened run, a tall left-armer got the ball to kick off a length, hitting the splice. Had he been there, Michael Holding would have commended Munaf Patel for bowling a heavy ball. “This bloke’s quick, where did he come from?” asked Waugh, squinting from under his helmet. As ever, the man closest at hand was Ganesh – caretaker, organiser, handyman at the pace foundation. “TA Sekhar discovered him in Gujarat,” came the quick reply.The MRF staff are at their happiest when someone praises one of their wards. And Steve Waugh is certainly someone.A short knock in the nets was all Waugh was interested in, and short seemed to be the theme for the day as he turned to speak to the media. A flurry of oft-repeated questions were sent down, leaving Waugh pleasantly bored. “I’m just happy playing cricket. There’s plenty of people out there with different opinions and it’s not for me to say whether they [the opinions] are good, bad, right or wrong,” said Waugh, when the conversation was steered to the subject of his retirement. “I know myself I’m doing the job well. I’m enjoying my cricket and enjoying captaincy and looking forward to the Bangladesh series.” Everyone, other than the Bangladeshis, is looking forward to that series, it seems. And with good reason.”We’re playing at full strength and that’s how it should be in Test cricket. You have to pick your best 12 players no matter who you’re playing against, and that’s what we’ve done. You have to show respect for your own country, and that means picking the best 12 players,” explained Waugh, dismissing the suggestion that Cricket Australia (the organisation formerly known as the ACB) should give some youngsters a go. “Age is irrelevant in any sport. If you have the desire, the commitment and the fitness it doesn’t matter how old you are.”Here in Chennai to flag off a go-karting event, Waugh admitted that he liked to have a go at the sport once in a while. “I’ve never raced professionally, obviously, but among friends I enjoy it. We [the Australian team] have often done it as a bonding exercise,” he revealed. But it’s not just karting: “I enjoy watching and following any sport on TV if it’s of a certain standard, especially if Australia’s involved.”Waugh’s dedication to the game needs little expanding on, but more and more Australians are following his charity work with interest. There’s a growing feeling that Australians are bored with the manner in which Waugh’s men are mercilessly trampling on lesser teams, and are looking to their sportsmen to do more than just wield the willow or hurl a ball. “When you go to another country it’s good to have a look at the culture and what goes on. We are cricketers first and foremost, but there are other opportunities to explore. If you’re in a place you haven’t been before, I think you should go and have a look at what there is to see.”But does Waugh go out of his way specifically to look for challenges outside the game? “I think everyone’s looking for challenges. My work in Kolkata is challenging, but very rewarding. I really enjoy that. Family, business, sponsors they all get put into the mix and you have to give them equal time.”Certainly, the family’s getting more time these days. While he soldiers manfully on, Waugh has his wife Lynette keeping him close company, and she is spotted more and more often waving a hanky or flicking off a tear from the Players’ Wives and Girlfriends section in the stands. Here, she sat in a quiet corner, watching her husband go about his business. Perhaps that, more than anything else, is a sign that Waugh believes that he may be visiting some of these places for the last time as a cricketer.