Out of My Comfort Zone - Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger Waugh will never be known for his technique or elegance. What he will be known for is the steely determination he brought to the game and for having ice in his veins in a tense situation.

If we had to pick one batsmen to bat for our life, we would without hesitation pick Tugga, with his baggy green cap and red handkerchief, over Sachin, Lara, Mark Waugh, Inzi, or Dravid. The red handkerchief is very important. If that was missing in his pocket, we would pick someone else.

Waugh's book is like one of his mammoth innings, lacking in style and elegance but the end result is somewhat overwhelming and full of substance. He has gone about compiling pages like he collected his runs - slowly and steadily - with an occasional slog sweep to wake up the readers who might be coasting along. We liked the book, not because it had evocative writing but because it was informative and comes with an appendix to die for - scorecard of every single match Waugh has ever played. Waugh must have written down match reports of every one of his matches or he had excellent research staff digging up stuff. Whatever be the case, even his earliest matches are described in great detail.

Tugga says a lot without revealing much of himself. The iceman of International cricket remains an enigma who guards his secrets well. His relationship with his brother Mark has always fascinated people. He talks a little bit about the strained relationship but doesn't really get into the reasons other than saying that macho culture prevalent in Australia prevented heart to heart chats and that everything got sorted out much later than he would have liked. A surprising aspect of this relationship is Steve's claim to know what his brother Mark was thinking at periods of stress (sort of like ESP). Mark, by his own admission, did not have any inkling of Steve's thoughts. As an aside, we would like to learn how much of this mind-reading was due to Steve's people skills coupled with his knowledge of his brother.

Trying to be inscrutable after having written 800-odd pages is nearly impossible and some things do get revealed. His love of exploring new places, his sense of adventure for trying out new things (be it the countries he visited while playing or one of John Buchanan's new tricks to keep the players sharp), his love for his family, his enthusiasm for Udayan (the school he opened in Calcutta), his competitiveness and his ability to constantly stay hungry for success shines through. His recollection of meeting with Mother Teresa is both heart-felt and touching.

Another fascinating aspect of the book for us was the inner wrangling between the selectors and the players. That part of the book was informative without being pedantic. The formation of the players union was also very interesting. It's amazing the amount of money a board makes and the amount of power they have without doing any of the hard work.

Tugga, being a cerebral person, certainly believed in the mental aspects of the game and was supportive of both Bob Simpson's and John Buchanan's attempts to strengthen the team-both mentally and physically. The close-knit Australian team of today is a direct result of this. Steve's confidence in team building and motivational techniques in in direct contrast to his twin brother Mark who did not put much stock in the exercises and could not see how they fit into the cricket field.

The book is at it's best when Waugh is talking about Cricket. The numerous anecdotes of players and places brings this book to life. Even though the heartfelt rendition of "Under the Southern Cross" kind of got on our nerves after the 50th time it was sung in the dressing room. We get it, already! You are proud of the baggy green and you are proud to be an Australian.

We were dismayed to learn that Haydos was Tugga's best friend in the team. Our favorite Australian player's best friend is the player we hate most. Such are life's ironies. The best part of the book, in our opinion, were the matches which involved West Indies (when they were good). Tugga saying "What the fuck you looking at" to Curtly Ambrose after having been beaten all ends up brought a smile to our face. Ambrose's response? "Don't you swear at me, man". After this pleasant little conversation, Ambrose bounced Steve a couple of times and tried to knock his head off.

During an away tour, John Buchanan gave all the players a copy of "Who Moved My Cheese" and wanted them to talk about what appealed to them in the book in front of team mates. Since the test series had ended and the one days were soon starting, a lot of new players joined the team, among them Andrew Symonds. When it was Symo's turn to talk about the book, he said: "Haven't read it. Don't read books".

During one of the matches in New South Wales, Steve and Mark's younger brother is batting and is struggling badly. The chagrined bowler stomps down the pitch, looks at Dean Waugh and yells "Surely, you must have been adopted". These and many other anecdotes like these are some of the best moments in the book.

Tugga's sacking from Captaincy and one-day team are dealt with honesty and forthrightness. Retiring from test Cricket on his own terms obviously meant a lot to him and it shows. As an Indian cricket fan, we were disappointed about the limited amount of ink spent on his attempt to conquer the "Final Frontier". Besides a few platitudes for Laxman's brilliant batting, nothing noteworthy is said.

Tugga will go down as one of the all time greats of the game and rightly so. We will conclude this by saying that if you are a fan of Cricket in general and Steve Waugh in particular, read the book. Otherwise, read this review and we can all go back to bashing Matthew Hayden.