Deflated Waugh has time for regret (12 December 1998)

12 December 1998

Deflated Waugh has time for regret

By Mark Nicholas

ALL EYES were on Mark Waugh at the Adelaide Oval yesterday, though not for long because his tortured innings came to a tame and merciful end courtesy of his old Essex mate Peter Such after just 36 painful minutes.

For the record he made two singles, a two and a three. He faced 26 balls from which he did not score and might have been out to any number of them. Darren Gough bowled fast, aggressively and very well at him; Such gave him nothing and bowled no less well.

In the end it all became too much for Waugh and he danced down the wicket to drive into Such's gleefully waiting hands. On his Test match debut on this very ground eight years ago against England he made 138. Last summer he played marvellously well for the unbeaten hundred which saved the match against South Africa. Watching him yesterday was horrible.

Mark Waugh is the most aesthetically pleasing batsman in the land and is a much-loved cricketer, but he had walked to the wicket accompanied by a revealing assortment of polite applause, humiliating cheers and some rude boos. He had returned, seven scratched runs later, to silence.

That is the trouble with Waugh the younger right now. Not everyone knows where they are in the debate which rages, least of all perhaps himself. He is good bloke turned villain and some would still hang him for his indiscretion. Others are prepared to forgive. The problem that he has to confront is that no one will ever forget.

During the lunch interval Dennis Rogers, the chairman of the ACB, gave a long and frank interview to a fascinated media. He apologised for what had gone on to Australians at large, but emphasised that he did not see the cover up by the ACB of the fines they dished out to Waugh and Shane Warne four years ago as a cover up at all.

He said that the board dealt with the issue promptly, reported it to the ICC and felt it needed to go no further. In hindsight, he admitted, they had got that wrong, though in fairness to Rogers he was not chairman at the time. Not half they got it wrong. If you were a Pakistan cricket person right now, you might refer to the pot and the kettle. There is a great deal of hypocrisy.

Rogers would not say that the ACB would reveal the details of the incident, in which Waugh and Warne received payment from an Indian bookmaker, to either the Pakistan Cricket Board or the judge in Lahore, who is conducting the bribery allegations, though Rogers may not have a say on that one in time.

However, he did say that an inquiry was needed in Australia in order to be certain that there were no skeletons left in the cupboard. He implied that the ICC may have to conduct a worldwide investigation into this appalling corruption, which is damning cricket's name.

Basically then, the thing is far from over. Indeed it may have only just begun, for heaven knows what else lies beneath the surface. Once a wound such as this is opened, it is not easily close.

Warne, not here in Adelaide, is best off out of it, away from the spotlight. Mark Waugh is caught in the most powerful glare. How dearly he must wish that he had been able to resist temptation.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)