Steve 'Tugga' Waugh or Iceman Steve as he was popularly known never had the talent of a Tendulkar or the Charisma of Shane Warne nor was he intimidating on the field like McGrath nor was he as flamboyant as Jayasuriya but if you look into what he has achieved in his nearly 20 years of cricket you will easily acknowledge Steve as one of the greatest to have played the game, his sheer grit, discipline and never say die attitude is something cricket fans will speak for generations. This book is quite detailed I would say really detailed and is spread over 700 pages but still worth a look for anybody having interest not only in cricket but in general about sports leadership and management.
The initial parts of the book is from Steve’s younger days in school and local school cricket which I was not very interested in, the interesting part starts from his journey into the Australian team lead by Alan Border , his initial failures and successes , rapport he shared with some of his senior team mates from New South Wales and how they helped him gel into the national team , various anecdotes from his cricketing tours in the Subcontinent , the Ashes and the West Indies make it interesting to read.
I can only imagine what it means to win the Ashes for the Aussies or the English only after reading this book, the intensity in which the Ashes are played seem to be much more than a typical India VS Pakistan match. Many epic test matches and incidents over the 80S , 90s and 00S take you back down memory lane, most notable amongst them are the 1986 Chennai test against India which ended in a tie, the 1995 Trinidad and Tobago test against the windies and the famous face off he had with Ambrose, the Eden Gardens test against India which saw the heroic innings from VVS and Dravid, the 2003 Adelaide test which again saw VVS and Dravid get the better of the Aussies and the infamous incident involving McGrath and Sarwan.
Steve has also shared some memorable moments in the book, insights into Australian Cricket culture, the loneliness of being a captain, the highs and lows associated with the success and failures of your team, winning the prestigious Laureus award , playing the Ashes, the Frank Worrell Trophy ( version of Ashes aginst the Windies), his association with Udayan a NGO based out of Kolkatta and his love for India ( initially it was love to hate ), his first meeting with Mother Teresa , the bribing and match fixing controversies that rocked the cricketing world which involved senior layers from India, Pakistan , Australia and South Africa. The resurrection of Australian cricket under John Buchanan and Waugh himself is something worth going through, it offers lots of life lessons, be it on team play, strategy, planning fitness and discipline something that the previous generation of Aussie cricketers had not taken very seriously.
Some nice little superstitions which cricketers follow, Steve himself had this red handkerchief which he always carried with him while playing right from the days he started playing for Australia in mid 80s till the day he retired, he was so particular about it that in one of Ashes tour in England he had forgotten it back home and was going through a rough patch on the field, he immediately asked for this hankie to be couriered to him to England.
Steve hasn’t been very generous in his praise about other cricketers especially non Australians but the few that he has praised include our own Maestro Sachin ( for his talent and cricketing mind) , Dravid for his professionalism and perseverance( btw the foreword to this book has been written by Dravid and both of them have huge respect for each other ), Sehwag for his dare devil style of playing , Wasim Akram for his sheer bowling ability, Hansie Cronje, Ambrose, Walsh, Alan Donald ,Waqar, Imran, Muralidaharan and Lara .
BTW a quick fact Waugh made his test debut against India and also played his last test against India maybe that’s why his special love for India.
If you want to know the life story of an inspiring sportsman and what it takes to become one, do read this book.
