Steve Waugh will carry on as long as he enjoys playing

When Steve Waugh held a press conference at the Taj Samudra, journalists flocked to take part. The enthusiasm of those gathered was not dampened one whit by the fact that the Australian Test skipper had chosen the morning of the semi-final of the International Cricket Council Champions Trophy 2002 to address them. Waugh, here in Colombo to lead the side in the first Test against Pakistan, followed by two more Tests in Sharjah, spoke at length on a variety of issues.

With the Ashes series coming up straight after the tour against Pakistan, there has been much talk, and indeed concern, that Waugh might consider retiring after the Ashes.

"I guess there's a possibility that I will think about retirement after the Ashes series but I want to keep playing as long as I'm enjoying it and improving as a cricketer. I don't want to put an end date on it. If you put an end date on it, you play accordingly. I want to play as well as I can in the next game and take it one game at a time," said the New South Welshman.

Waugh added that he did not want to fix a date to his departure.

"I don't want to fix an end date to it because that's too final for me. I want to wind down. I never dwell on that sort of thing. I never thought about when I was going to start playing for Australia and I'm not going to think about when I'm going to finish. You just play because you enjoy it and you're good enough to play. If those things aren't in place then it's time," he said.

Having been dropped from the one-day side when it was least expected, Waugh stressed that there was nothing you could take for granted as a cricketer.

"For the last 17 years, I've felt like I've been playing for my place. That's how it is in professional sport. There are no guarantees. I know that Nasser Hussain made a few comments about me being under pressure but I don't see myself being under any extra pressure than he or Sourav Ganguly or any other player is. You don't expect a free ride."

The man widely regarded as the finest captain of the last few decades also spelled out his goal for the coming season.

"I'm not looking too far ahead. It's one thing I've learned in the last six to twelve months. You don't look too many series ahead. I've got to concentrate on this series now and make sure I play well in that."

Waugh added: "I would like to decide when I could go rather than the selectors, any player would, but there aren't too many Cinderella stories in sport. I just want to play good cricket and enjoy it - that's what I want to do this season and I'm hoping that things will fall into place as a result of that process."

Having suffered a slump in one-day form that culminated in Australia not qualifying for the final of the VB Series one-dayers at home, Waugh said, "My form wasn't great last year but that's only one year in the last 10. Not too many people can say they've had a run like that. I know that I did badly last year but I know I can bounce back."

He also made it clear that he expected to be a part of the Australian side that will be defending the World Cup in South Africa in 2003.

"There's a realistic chance that I will play the World Cup. I've said all along that I wanted to get selected for the one-day side. I still stand a chance, it's possible that I will get picked again. It's upto me to just get on with my game and play cricket," he observed.

Coming back to the immediate task at hand, where Australia take on a Pakistan side plagued by internal strife, Waugh explained that while he was not really in a position to comment on the opposition, although he did try to keep an eye on things through the media.

"I'm not sure who they're going to play in the first Test. If the senior players don't play, some young guys will get a chance and in some ways that will make things harder for us as we wouldn't have seen much of them. I've been reading various reports on this and following things on CricInfo but I can't really comment on what's happening with Pakistan because I don't know what's going on behind the scenes," he commented.

Waugh is also in a bit of a tricky situation, having arrived in Sri Lanka for the Test series while the one-dayers are still in progress.

"I want to remain a bit aloof from the side till the Test campaign begins. I think it's only fair to the players. They've got a job to do, they have to concentrate and stay together. Obviously we're going to cross paths and say hello and occasionally meet up but I'd prefer to keep my distance a little bit till the Test match starts. Ricky Ponting's the captain and they've done pretty well. For me to jump in there and get involved in the middle of the one-day campaign isn't quite fair," said Waugh.

He added, "I don't think it will be a problem for the players to play under two different captains. We've done it before with myself and Mark Taylor. So it's not something that's completely new to us. The players are all mature and respect that we're both captains of different sides. We all get on well, I get on very well with Ricky and I can't see there being any problem at all."

If Australia do beat Sri Lanka and reach the final of the Champions Trophy, they will have just two days to prepare for the Test series. While this worries Waugh it doesn't really surprise him.

"It's not ideal, but there are not too many ideal situations in cricket today. There's a lot of cricket and a lot of tournaments being played. The one-day final is pretty close to the Test series, but I'll be talking to John Buchanan before that and we'll be discussing a few things about the side and how we want to play. But really it won't be too different to the way we've played in recent times, so it's not going to take rocket science to work out what we're going to do," he said.

While he seemed relaxed enough, Stephen Rodger Waugh did look like he would be much happier at the nets with his mates, and back in the one-day side. Don't quite count him out just yet.