Ashes test holds extremes for Waugh

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- The series-concluding Ashes test held all the extremes for Stephen Waugh.

Going into the fifth test against England, his Australian cricketers held a 4-0 lead and were No. 1 in the world.

Waugh reached his 29th test century with a four on the last ball before stumps Friday to equal Sir Donald Bradman's Australian record and became only the third batsman to surpass 10,000 test runs in the process.

After scoring just one hundred in 17 previous tests, his 102 in the first innings silenced the critics who'd said he was too old to captain Australia and should quit before he was fired.

On Monday, England snapped Australia's 22-match unbeaten stretch at home was snapped with a 225-run win. It was Australia's first loss on home soil since a 12-run defeat in the fourth Ashes test in December 1998 and its worst defeat in more than a decade against the English.

South Africa later clinched a 2-0 series win over Pakistan to unseat Australia for the first time at No. 1 since the test rankings were introduced in 2001. The South Africans have played 18 series for 13 wins. Australia has won 10 of its 14 series.

While England was celebrating its first first-class win of this tour, Waugh was already contemplating another tour and the prospect of becoming the world's most capped cricketer.

He equaled his former skipper Allan Border's record when he walked onto the Sydney Cricket Ground for his 156th test.

A rare record he missed was matching Warwick Armstrong's Australian lineup of 1920-21, the only team to sweep a five-test Ashes series.

Did he have any regrets?

"No, I've forgotten about it already, it's over," Waugh said in his post-match news conference. "It's 4-1, I'm pretty happy with that."

Waugh said it was in the better interests of cricket to have close contests.

"The first three test matches weren't close and they weren't contested that well. The last two were excellent test matches," he said. "It's nice to win and nice to dominate, but ... you get more out of doing something special in a real tough, close test match."

The Australians won the first test in Brisbane by 384 runs, won in Adelaide by an innings and 51 runs and secured their eighth consecutive Ashes series with a win in Perth by an innings and 48 runs. That all happened inside 11 of the scheduled 15 days of cricket.

England rallied in Melbourne, losing by five wickets but making Australia work hard in the final sessions chasing a meager 107 to win.

"I'm disappointed but you've got to give credit to England, they played very good cricket in this test," Waugh said Monday. "We missed our opportunities. England certainly outplayed us in a pretty comprehensive win."

England skipper Nasser Hussain said he'd enjoyed the last six days of the series.

His position as captain was under serious threat if he'd returned home winless, but now he gets until after the limited-overs World Cup concludes in South Africa in March to meet with the selectors about his tenure.

Winning the last match didn't make up for losing the series and England had to make dramatic changes to its domestic competition and selection process to make up ground on the top teams, Hussain said.

England had the bowlers and batsmen to win on a seaming pitch, similar to the wickets in county cricket, but struggled in other conditions.

"Let's not suddenly make out that everything is turned around. When we play on a wicket and the ball swings around, we have bowlers and batsmen that can cope with that," he said.

But on flat wickets, like those in Australia, "it's the same old story."

"We lost it 4-1 -- that's the bottom line," Hussain said. "But it's been a very enjoyable (end) -- a great test match, one of the best I've played in."

Andy Caddick took seven wickets for 94 in the second innings to skittle Australia and gain his first 10-wicket haul in a test match. He finished with 20 wickets for the series to lead the English bowling attack, which was missing pacemen Darren Gough and Steve Jones, allrounders Andrew Flintoff and Craig White and spinner Ashley Giles -- all through injuries.

Jason Gillespie topped the Australia's bowling with 20 wickets, one ahead of Glenn McGrath, who missed the last test. Legspinner Shane Warne took 14 wickets in the first three tests before dislocating his shoulder during a limited-overs match against England.

The English had more success with the bat as Michael Vaughan led the series with 633 runs at an average of 63.3, including three centuries in his first tests against Australia. He took man-of-the-match honors for the fifth test and was voted player of the series.

Australian opener Matt Hayden was the leading Australian scorer with 495 runs at an average of 62. He started the series with centuries in each innings of the Brisbane test but ended with 15 and 2 in Sydney, and then was fined 20 percent of his match fee for smashing a glass door in the dressing rooms following his last dismissal.

Hussain said England had lost to the strongest combination in cricket.

"If [Australia's] not the best side in the world, then we've got problems again this summer against South Africa."

Waugh said Australia still deserved the No. 1 rating. His Australians beat South Africa 3-0 at home and then led 2-0 in South Africa before losing the last test last summer.

"South Africa would know deep down that we're a better cricket side. That's not being big headed, it's being realistic," he said. "Although, they can say they've won on the subcontinent and we haven't, so maybe there is some sense in the rankings.

"But I think that if you beat a side five tests out of six in recent times and they're ranked ahead of you, it seems a bit strange."

Australia, which won 10 of its 11 tests in 2002, is next tour the West Indies in April.

 

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