Steve Waugh's absence ends a trail-blazing role in one-day game

Steve Waugh's omission from Australia's 30-man World Cup squad has basically signalled the end of his one-day career and with that, cricket can begin the lengthy process of defining Waugh's legacy to the shorter form of the game.

Waugh was one of those cricketers in the mid-to-late 1980s who redefined the game. Up until then, one-day cricket wasn't treated as anything special. It evolved to become more scientific, more skilled and a distinct version to test cricket.

Waugh made his debut at the MCG against New Zealand in January 1986. He showcased from that first game, the incredible skills and talents he had.

John Bracewell flashed hard at a wide one from Craig McDermott. The ball took the outside edge of the bat and swirled high into the MCG lights. Camped under it at backward point, Waugh was circling below when at the last second he had realised he had over run the ball. He caught the ball falling backwards with both hands above his head.

You could tell that the cogs in Waugh's head were consistently working over. Always looking for a way to be that little bit sharper.

Dubbed the 'Iceman', it was Waugh's efforts in bowling the final overs of the game which saw Australia prevail in the 1987 World Cup. His subtle variations on the sub-contintent wickets proved fatal for opposition batsman and one of the enduring images of the game is Waugh forcing Allan Lamb's off stump to cartwheel end over end in the final.

Waugh, along with Simon O'Donnell, can claim fame for perfecting the one-day slower ball. In the beginning, it was just a bit of novelty but it has since been developed and perfected to a bona fide weapon for every bowler's armoury.

The slower ball didn't always work however. With one ball left of a game against Pakistan, and Pakistan down by six runs, Waugh bowled a slow full toss which Asif Mujtaba calmly dispatched into the outer.

In those days, teams did not have separate one-day and Test sides. You took the XI you had and made the best out of them. Such being the case, Waugh was always the second player picked after Allan Border. His talents with bat, with ball and in the field were second to none.

He had his fair share of party tricks; catching Roger Harper behind the sightscreen at the MCG, running out two West Indian batsmen at the MCG when a bit of mid-pitch confusion saw them both short of their ground at the same end - the photo of it is a classic.

There must have been something about Steve Waugh, the MCG and the West Indies because he also took the most incredible catch at second slip after Allan Border at first ball parried the ball to him.

As a bowler he ran out the non-facing batsman by deflecting strokes onto the stumps with such ease that it looked like it was a set move on his part.

It's often said that one-day innings don't stand the test of time. Because of the sheer volume of games played these days, it's impossible to remember one game from the next. Saying that, how highly does that rate Waugh's innings of 120 not out against South Africa in the 1999 World Cup, which no one could ever forget?

After being dropped by Herschelle Gibbs, Waugh single-handedly willed Australia onto victory with the innings particularly famous because of the amount of sledging Waugh is supposed to have given the South Africans throughout the innings.

It doesn't matter whether or not he actually said to Gibbs, "You've just dropped the World Cup". Either way it will just add to the Waugh legend.

Waugh lost part of his game when he ceased to bowl. He was always in the thick of things when bowling, especially the final overs of an innings. He became nothing more than a cameo bowler after his shoulder problems but when he was called upon he did the trick more often than not.

In the 1996 World Cup semi-final, the West Indies looked to be on their way to the final until Waugh bowled Brian Lara. Chasing 208, the West Indies went from 2/165 to all out for 202. The ball with which he bowled Lara was pure Waugh in that he didn't out-bowl him as much as out-think him.

He leaves the game stranded five wickets short of joining the exclusive 2000 runs/200 wickets club. At the moment, the only members of it are Sanath Jayasuriya, Kapil Dev and Wasim Akram.

One-day cricket was denigrated by afficionados of the Test game. But there can be no doubt that one-day cricket has made Test cricket a far more attractive spectacle. The fielding, versatilty and batting aggression of the players has improved out of sight just in the last decade.

This would go part of the way to explaining the amazing speed at which Steve Waugh and his Test side play cricket. Whereas 250 runs used to be acceptable for a days play and 300 outstanding, 300 is now par with 400 the new objective.

The difference between a great cricketer and a good cricketer is that with the former, they don't have to be gone for you to start to appreciate them. For all of his 325 limited-overs internationals, Steve Waugh never stopped displaying his special wares.