Best ever says Marsh.

Geoff Marsh, coach of the Zimbabwe team, has rated Steve Waugh as the second-best Australian cricketer, next only to Don Bradman. "I think he has to be rated as one of the best, if not the best ... obviously Bradman stands alone, but I reckon his record speaks for itself," Marsh said of Waugh, who has scored four hundreds in his last eight Test innings to resurrect his international career.

Marsh was all-praise for Waugh's ability to combat pressure, both as a captain and as a batsman. "His captaincy record is outstanding and his performance with the bat speaks for itself. All Stephen's (32) hundreds in Test cricket, they are all under pressure.

"Stephen's such a competitor, he loves the game of cricket and he's so determined to keep going. He enjoys the captaincy, he enjoys winning and he enjoys the team."

According to Marsh, two of the best centuries he had seen in international cricket came off Waugh's bat – his unbeaten 120 against South Africa in a crunch match of the 1999 World Cup, and his 102 against England at Sydney earlier this year.

"That hundred he got in Sydney last year was just magnificent," Marsh said. "It was the second best innings I have ever seen in world cricket. The other one was his hundred in the World Cup in 1999 in Headingley, when we had to beat South Africa to get into the semi-finals. Great knocks, inspirational, great for the game."

Waugh recently went past Clive Lloyd's record of maximum Test wins as captain, and is only 654 runs away from toppling Allan Border as the highest run-scorer in Tests. With Test series against Zimbabwe, India and Sri Lanka lined up over the next 12 months, Waugh is well on his way to breaking another record.



Posted by Rob