Four minutes behind his twin, Mark Waugh became cricket's great slip catcher
Mark Waugh arrived four minutes after his brother Steve, and in their very first cricket match both twins were out without scoring. Mark went on to become one of the most graceful batsmen of his era and a peerless slip fielder, holding the Test record for catches by a non-wicketkeeper until 2009.
He was born on 2 June 1965 in Campsie, New South Wales, to a bank official and a teacher, and grew up in Panania in western Sydney with two younger brothers. Sport ran in the family: a grandfather was selected for a rugby league representative side, his father was once ranked eighth among Australian junior tennis players, and an uncle remains Bankstown's leading run scorer. The twins were playing organised soccer, tennis and cricket by six. At 15 Mark was told a knee condition would stop him growing beyond 152 cm; the next year he shot up by about a foot.
Promoted to Bankstown's first team at 17, he made 97 on debut. The pair skipped university to sell sports gear and spent an English summer playing league cricket in Lancashire, splitting one professional's wage. A ban on rebel tourists to South Africa opened places in the state side, and he and Mark Taylor opened together on debut, famously oversleeping on Taylor's 21st birthday and being punished with fielding drills.
He played ODIs from 1988 and Tests from early 1991 to late 2002, usually batting at four. In one-day cricket he shifted from all-rounder to opener and became Australia's top run scorer in the format. He scored three hundreds at the 1996 World Cup, a first, later matched by Sourav Ganguly and bettered by Rohit Sharma. Another century in 1999 made him the only Australian with four World Cup centuries and over 1,000 runs, and he helped win that tournament.
Observers compared his elegance to Victor Trumper and Greg Chappell, though critics claimed his easy style made him look lazy when he got out softly. After retiring he became a national selector until August 2018, then moved into television commentary with Fox Sports.
Source: Mark Waugh
