Waugh's great day brilliantly captured

Steve Waugh - A Perfect Day. Produced by Roadshow Entertainment.

A defining moment in Steve Waugh's career, in Australian sport?

Judge for yourself.

But chances are that the magnificent century scored by Waugh at the Sydney Cricket Ground against England earlier this year will be a 'yes' in both categories.

The stage could not have been better set, and as Richie Benaud pointed out, since the Allan Border Medal presentation night in Australia last year when he was told he would no longer be leading the Australian one-day team, Waugh had been "a condemned man."

Waugh's future had been the subject of conjecture all over the land, and all over the cricket world when he went into the Ashes series. No-one had any excuse for being unaware of the tumult in Australia over his treatment by the time he arrived at the fifth Test.

The Ashes were won but Waugh had not cast his influence over the series and with the final Test being played on his home arena at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stage was set for a riposte.

And if it wasn't the final Test innings he played at the ground, it was potentially the most memorable.

Sydney's faithful flocked to witness their favourite son and it was all set up when he found himself in the perfect Waugh position, with his side struggling.

"Mark him down as one of Australia's finest, particularly in bad situations," Benaud said.

This presentation, incorporating interview material with Waugh, and the former Australian captains Benaud and Mark Taylor, Adam Gilchrist, England captain Nasser Hussain, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and cricket fan Andrew Denton, who won the right to be part of the Australian dressing room on the day, is a neat, crisp and emotional record of a great day of cricket in anyone's language.

This wasn't cricket, it was high theatre.

And the technology, and its superior sound, lends much of the atmosphere of the ground to the end product and it is an outstanding mix.

From the moment Waugh walked to the wicket with the crowd cheering him all the way, a journey he deliberately tried to shut out of his mind, there was an atmosphere which made the occasion so memorable.

The lustre was enhanced with Waugh becoming the third man to score 10,000 Test runs and carrying on and drawing level with an even greater cricketing icon Don Bradman by scoring his 29th Test century.

Either of the milestones would have been sufficient to send fans into a frenzy on their own, but with a third to add to the mix Aussies were in seventh heaven and they celebrated in style.

The object of their affection played his part with a superb innings of trademark shots, typical belligerence and in the end, a breathtaking summation of his own skill and ability to dictate.

Little wonder that Alec Stewart would remark as he walked past Waugh, near the end of the day, "Do you write your own scripts now?"

Arriving at the last ball needing two runs for his century, he despatched a ball from off-spinner Richard Dawson to the boundary with such style that the element of risk normally associated with such a shot, so close to stumps was forgotten in the sheer audacity of it all.

But in that one moment, Waugh demonstrated what it meant to be Australian.

Where the reward was worth the risk.

What a confidence boost it must be to play cricket under those conditions.

This DVD is a fine memory of a very special day, well produced, and with a bonus outside the Waugh presentation of the last eight overs of the day.