Cricket: They're simply the best, Waughs' Dad tells critics

By RICHARD BOOCK in SYDNEY

It must be difficult for the Waugh twins to make it through airport security these days, given the amount of steel in their backs and the number of blades being sharpened over their heads.

As the furore over their worth to the Australian one-day side increased at the weekend, even their father, Rodger, remained defiant, phoning a Sydney radio to defend his sons and tick off announcer Greg Alexander for daring to suggest they had run their race.

"I want to have a go at you for what you had to say," he told 2UE's Sports Today. "I can't believe you blokes, the way you go on about my son, Stephen.

"You obviously weren't at the game and didn't see him bat. You blokes have short memories.

"It probably took the best catch of the season to get him out. Stephen and Mark are still probably the two best fielders in the side.

"Look at where he [Stephen] fields. Balls are hit 100 miles an hour where he is. He still fields eight out of 10."

It has been described as the biggest crisis in the Australian ODI side since 1997, when Ian Healy and Mark Taylor were jettisoned, and this time the debate has centred on a similar theme - whether the 37-year-old Waugh twins should be considered only as test candidates.

Australia's abysmal start to their own tri-series tournament has left them with a huge task to qualify for the finals, and former test batsman, now-commentator David Hookes said it was time for the selectors to bite the bullet over the brothers.

He suggested that not only would the twins benefit in terms of their test careers being extended, the Australian one-day side would also be better off, as space would be created for better-performing and more useful players.

"Ten years ago [Steve Waugh] was the first player picked and that was because of his bowling," said Hookes, who claimed the Australian captain was now the worst player in the team.

"That's a legacy of him not being able to bowl any more."

Although Steve Waugh has expressed a desire to keep playing after next year's World Cup, Hookes said it was no longer feasible to wait for modern players to retire from the game, as they were being paid enormous sums of money and suffered from a conflict of interest.

"Which player on $700,000 a year is going to retire?" he said.

"The more money in the game, the more responsibility there is on the selectors."

Predictably, Steve Waugh rejected Hookes' appraisal yesterday as he prepared to lead his team in the all-important match against South Africa, saying he would back himself to succeed for the rest of the tri-series, after which his fate would be in the selectors' hands.

"If they pick me, then I'll just do my best," he said.

"I'll be guided by the selectors. I've found the last week to be very negative all round.

"If you pick up the papers you'd think you're not good enough to play cricket at all.

"I know what I'm capable of. I feel my form has been pretty good of late. I'll back myself to do well, and I'll back my team to come back and start winning.

"I'll just keep playing while I'm still enjoying it. Three weeks ago there was not much talk.

"There were people saying I wasn't good enough for the last World Cup, too, and I did okay then and I think I'll do okay here."

The pressure on the Waughs is highlighted by their lean run of form this season, in which neither brother has scored a test or ODI century in a combined total of 21 innings.

The most recent occasion the pair went through a domestic season without scoring a hundred was in 1991-92, when they mustered an average of 19.78.

This year, and before last night's game, they were averaging 27.38.