Having won the battle, Australia loses Waugh

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, AUG. 5. Steve Waugh, the Australian captain injured just before his side retained the Ashes, will miss the rest of the series with his torn calf muscle injury. The wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist, his deputy, will be captain in the two remaining back- to-back Tests.

Despite the severity of his injury, Waugh was still jubilant today as the team completed its celebrations after the seven- wicket win in the third Test which brought Australia's seventh successive Ashes success. ``The job is done,'' said Waugh, ``but it is still a fantastic feeling and if I have a feeling of frustration today you can put it down to selfishness. We have won seven Ashes series in a row which is a fantastic achievement and this is still a very special time.''

The side is now set on a 5-0 whitewash for the first time since Warwick Armstrong's team defeated an England side weakened by war, in 1920-21.

Waugh's inability to play in the rest of the series means that the last sight the English public will have of this tough competitor was as he left Trent Bridge on a stretcher on Saturday afternoon. That is a shame. Waugh made his Test debut at 19 in an Ashes Test, he found his level as one of the finest batsmen in history during the 1989 Ashes series in this country when England simply could not bowl him out and he has waited around long enough to take his Test average above fifty and lead his country to a record number of victories.

The England camp was hardly in a state to commiserate with Waugh; the players were too busy working out what went wrong with their own strategy. David Graveney, chairman of selectors, announced today that he would not resign and added that the veterans Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart could go on playing Test cricket ``as long as they like.''

Atherton may have to lead the side again in the back- to-back Tests which begin on August 16 at Headingley as Nasser Hussain is still suffering from his hand injury, but there is a big question mark against Stewart.

Stewart is keeping wicket as well as ever but he has not played a major innings in the series in which Australia have not yet had to claim the second new ball. England are also likely to be without Graham Thorpe for the last two Tests.

Of course, the men in England Cricket Board blazers have yet to have their say and today the phone lines were already buzzing. My guess is that they will demand a step forward by appointing Marcus Trescothick as temporary captain if Hussain is not fit and a decision on a successor to Stewart. It will mean a halt to the Test careers of Ian Ward, a neat left-handed batsman who has not yet got to 40 in this series, and Craig White who was given only two overs on a Trent Bridge pitch that favoured pace and made just seven runs. He has had three noughts in the series.

There is a long-term debate on the future of Atherton. At the press conference after the match, he claimed he could not say what he would do when his England central contract and his Lancashire contract run out at the end of the season. It is widely known that he has had offers to join a television commentary team and that, with his back still playing up at the end of a tortured career, he is like to push his boots aside and pick up a microphone - and perhaps a lap top as well - for the tour of India.

He has not said whether he is willing to lead England if Hussain is still unfit and the Duncan Fletcher is unhappy about giving Trescothick the captaincy so early in his Test career. It is also only a few weeks since Michael Vaughan was the leading candidate for the England leadership and he will shortly be fit after a knee operation although it is unlikely that he will play in either of the last two Tests.

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