Embassador Steve

[Donny]

Waugh drops his guard for new role
Wisden CricInfo Staff - September 30, 2003


Steve Waugh has another role. He's been appointed an Australian tourism ambassador to India by the Australian Minister for small business and tourism, Joe Hockey.

Apart from his obvious cricket connection with India, Waugh has distinguished himself with his support for the children's hostel in Kolkata that assists the children of leprosy victims. He said yesterday that he is looking to raise more money for another centre in Kolkata which will cost $A500,000, and then doing projects in other centres.

While the unpaid ambassadorship is seen as a way of tempting the burgeoning Indian middle-classes to look at Australia as a tourism destination, it is also recognition of Waugh's stature in India for his social support for the hostel. Other ambassadors employed in similar roles by the Australians are Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe, surfer Layne Beachley and model Megan Gale.

Waugh said his profile as a sportsman made it possible for him to attempt to make a difference in a situation where many would look at the size of the population and think they couldn't make an impact. He admitted that while there were business opportunities for him in India, where he has some of his biggest sponsorships, his experiences in India had helped him and had changed his life.

His initial experiences as a young cricketer had forced him to think about what he had seen and he told ABC Television in a special programme yesterday that the more he went back to India the more he understood. He said he thought the ambassadorial role was a great opportunity because of his affection for India and its people.

Waugh also said that while he might seem to adopt an unemotional frame of mind on the cricket field, it was not true away from the game. "As a captain you've almost got to put up a brick wall in front of you and not show too much emotion, because you can't afford to give too much of yourself out there, because in some ways you can be taken advantage of," he said. "So I generally keep a lot to myself, and share with my family.

"I'm a pretty emotional person. I'm basically the opposite of what I'm perceived as on the cricket field . . .When you drop a player as captain, you become emotional. You don't cry, but you feel like crying. It's hard to hold back . . . it's hard to get out what you're trying to say to a player when you're dropping someone like Michael Slater or Justin Langer or those sort of guys, because they're good friends."

Waugh also commented in the programme about his feeling for Shane Warne and his conflicts with controversy. "I think he would've learnt from the experience and this may be a turning point in his life and his career. No one's perfect, we all make mistakes and we all have skeletons in the closet I'm sure. Shane's have just been exposed more than others.

"There's no way I'm going to go and criticise him or say, 'I think he's an idiot'. It's his life. I see him as a human being and a friend . . . he may have done the wrong thing, but you've got to see the bigger picture. He is a person, he does have feelings and let's try and help him out . . . rather than throw another knife in his back."

Waugh added that he may have made himself unpopular to some in the media for not wanting to talk cricket over several drinks but that was part of his approach to the captaincy role.

With the Australian team to be named for the first Test against Zimbabwe this week, Waugh was able start the pre-Test jousting by warning the Zimbabweans of what they can expect on the bouncy WACA pitch in Perth.

As the tourists shape up to a world-class attack of Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, Waugh told The Daily Telegraph (Sydney): "Perth is a bouncy wicket, it's unique in world cricket and there is always a chance somebody is going to get hurt over there. You have got to be courageous to score runs in Perth, that's the nature of the pitch, that's why it's a great place to play because it tests you out over there," he said.