Let’s count the number of standing ovations Steve Waugh will be given during the fourth Test:
1. Walking onto the ground for the first time.
2. Going in to bat for the first innings.
3. Getting out.
4. Going in to bat for the second innings.
5. Getting out.
6. Walking onto the ground at the start of the last day.
7. Walking off the ground at the end of the match.
There could be more, too, if he bowls, takes a catch, makes a fifty or 100.
That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?
Gideon Haigh makes the point that it went uncommented that no one else in Waugh’s position has been able to conduct a farewell tour. It may have been uncommented but it certainly wasn’t unnoticed. And given that the series from his point of view has gone rather less than smoothly, I don’t know how many future Australian captains will be trying to walk in his footsteps.
Hey, he’s just a man.
