an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, after previously making his One Day International (ODI) debut in 1988. Waugh was a part of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup. The twin brother of Steve, Mark Waugh was one of the world's most elegant and gifted strokemakers. His game was characterised by an ability to drive, cut, pull and loft the ball so effortlessly that it could make him look disdainful of the talents of bowlers.

Born on 2 June 1965 at Canterbury Hospital in Campsie, New South Wales, Waugh was the second of twin boys born to Rodger and Beverley Waugh. The twins were later joined by two more brothers, Dean and Danny.[14] From an early age, the parents introduced their children to sport. By the age of six, the twins were playing organised soccer, tennis and cricket. The brothers often won formed a two-man team—in one match, Mark scored a century and then the brothers took 16/85 between them. The brothers were promoted to Bankstown's Second XI, before being selected for the First XI in the 1982/83 season, aged 17, both making their debut against Western Suburbs, with Mark making 97 on debut. The brothers were then selected for Australia for the first time. They had been named in the national under-19 team to play a Test and ODI series against the touring Sri Lankan counterparts. The under-19 series pitted several future international players against one another. Mark scored 123 in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval. At the start of the 1984/85 season, the brothers were included in the New South Wales state.

At the start of the 1984/85 season, the brothers were included in the New South Wales state squad. At the end of the season, the Waugh twins signed a contract to spend the Australian winter to play for Egerton in the Bolton League in Lancashire in northern England. Waugh returned to Australia for the 1985/86 season, looking to make his First-class debut. He scored 177 against Petersham in just five hours and was selected for the state Second XI. Then, an opportunity arose with further ramifications of the rebel tours of South Africa. A two-year ban on playing state cricket was imposed on the players. This meant that New South Wales was looking for two new opening batsmen.

Waugh and Mark Taylor opened on debut against Tasmania at Hobart's TCA Ground. Waugh fell on tough times, being dismissed for a duck and four by Test bowler Merv Hughes in the next match against Victoria and then 17 and a run out for another duck against the touring New Zealand. With a First-class average of 10.33, Waugh was dropped for the next five matches. However, for the final four matches of the season, Waugh was recalled to the team as a front-line fast bowler and middle order batsman. He took 4/130 in the first innings against Queensland. Waugh then took 3/49 in the final round robin match against Queensland, before the teams met again in the Sheffield Shield final at the SCG.

At this stage of his career, Waugh lived in the shadow of his brother Steve, who was promoted to the Australian team at the age of 20. As a result, Mark was sometimes called Afghan, a reference to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, sometimes dubbed the "forgotten war". Building up an impressive record at First-class level, Waugh spent two seasons with English county Essex as the team's successor to Allan Border as an overseas professional. In 1987/88 and 1989/90, he was voted the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year.

Failing to take a wicket for the season, he was overlooked for the 1989 Ashes tour. In 1989, Waugh returned to Essex for his first full season as the overseas professional. In the first Sheffield Shield match of the season, Waugh scored 172 from 301 balls, his highest First-class score to date. He hit 20 boundaries. He then struck 42 and took three wickets against Sri Lanka, but was overlooked for the Test against New Zealand. He scored 46 and 18 and took 1/31 and 2/34 against Queensland, before striking and unbeaten 100 against Victoria. In 1990, Waugh and his brother combined in an unbeaten partnership of 464 in 407 minutes for New South Wales against Western Australia at the WACA Ground, setting a world First-class record for the fifth wicket.

Mark Waugh was seeking to force his way into the Australian team at the start of the 1988/89 season. Waugh was overlooked for Test selection, but was selected in the ODI squad for the start of the triangular tournament against the West Indies and Pakistan. It was to be the first time that twins played international cricket for Australia. Waugh made his ODI debut against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in December, but did not bat or bowl as Australia took a nine-wicket victory. Two days later against the West Indies in Sydney, Waugh took his first ODI catch when he caught Gordon Greenidge from Peter Taylor. He batted for the first time, partnering his brother during a run chase, scoring 18 from 19 balls. Steve was run out, something that was to occur multiple times while they batted together.

At the age of 25, he was finally picked for his Test debut in 1990/91, which resulted in mixed emotions: his place in the team game came at the expense of his out-of-form brother,[85] who had only scored 82 runs at 20.50 for the series. Playing against England in the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval, Waugh came to the crease in the first innings on the first day with Australia in trouble at 4/104. Greg Matthews and Waugh batted until the end of the day, and Waugh brought up his century with a square drive late on the first day..This made him the fifteenth Australian to make a century on debut. Waugh was widely lauded for the style and elegance of his innings. Waugh ended the day at 116 not out and was bowled early on the second morning for 138 by Devon Malcolm.

His performances saw him selected for the early 1991 tour of the West Indies, to play in five Tests and five ODIs against the world's most powerful team. Australia had not won a Test series in the Caribbean for 18 years against a team known for their physically intimidating fast bowlers. In the first tour match against Jamaica, Waugh was felled by a bouncer from Courtney Walsh, but recovered to score a century despite the presence of his spilt blood on the pitch. The brothers played their first Test match together in the third Test at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. Waugh top-scored with 64 in the first innings of another rain-affected draw, before taking his first Test wicket, Curtly Ambrose.

In the fifth Test of the series in St. John's, Antigua, Waugh made 139 not out from 188 balls. Devising a different strategy of combating the short-pitched bowling, Waugh backed away from the stumps and sliced the bowlers over the slips cordon. Shielding the tailenders from the West Indies fast bowlers, he still managed to score a century between tea and stumps. Australia made 403 in the first day and went on to win the match. Waugh ended the Test series with 367 runs at 61.17, the best among the Australians, in addition to taking eight wickets at 22.83.

During the 1991/92 Australian summer, Waugh hit a patch of bad form. He was dropped from the ODI team in the early part of the season, then omitted from the Test team in favour of Tom Moody for the fifth Test against India in Perth. A score of 112 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the second Test of 1992/93 helped set up an Australian victory and a 1–0 lead in the Frank Worrell Trophy series against the West Indies. During that season's World Series Cup, he scored a half-century and took 5/24 as Australia successfully defended a small total.

After two unproductive Tests on the 1993 New Zealand tour, Waugh was dropped for the third Test, this time in favour of the younger Damien Martyn. In the ODI series, Australia opted for a new strategy and promoted Waugh to open the batting. He scored 60 and 57 in the first two matches to help set up an Australian victory, then scored his maiden ODI century, 108 in Hamilton. A score of 83 in the final match made him the leading batsman of the series with 308 runs at 61.60.

In the second Test at Lord's, Waugh started on six on the second morning scored quickly to reach 99. He was looking for his century during an over by Phil Tufnell. Later in the over, another leg side ball hit his pads, rolled between his legs and onto the stumps, meaning that Waugh missed out on his century.

Starting 1994 well, Waugh was named Player of the Finals against South Africa in the World Series Cup and he then scored a century against the same opponents in the drawn third Test in Durban. Later in the year, Waugh claimed that Pakistan captain Saleem Malik had offered him money to perform poorly during a match on the tour of Pakistan. Waugh's performances were beyond reproach: he scored three half-centuries in the Tests and an ODI century during the match in question. In the first Test of 1994/95, Waugh hit his highest score yet, 140 against England in Brisbane.

Waugh failed to pass 25 in the rain-affected draw in the third Test in Sydney, before claiming career-best bowling figures of 5/40 in a losing team during the second innings of the fourth Test in Adelaide. In the fifth Test at the WACA, Waugh scored 88 in the first innings before returning as a runner for the injured Craig McDermott. He was run out in a mix-up with his brother while looking for the single that would have given Steve his century. This left his brother on 99 not out with Australia all out. Waugh contributed a further three wickets as Australia completed a 3–1 series win.

On the subsequent tour of the West Indies, Waugh scored what Paul Reiffel described as a "nonchalantly beautiful" 126 and combined with his brother for a 231-run partnership in the deciding fourth Test in Jamaica. This set up victory and Australia's first series win over the West Indies since 1975–76 .Waugh had a productive and consistent 1995–96 Australian summer, scoring two centuries and four half-centuries in six Tests against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He passed 50 in each Test. The series against Pakistan started amidst a new development in the bribery claims against Malik. A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) inquiry cleared Malik and speculated that Waugh and the Australians had concocted the claims.

At the start of the season, back injuries forced him to convert to bowling off-spin a during the season. During the first Test in Brisbane, Waugh scored 59 as Australia took an innings victory. He also took his first Test wicket as a spin bowler, that of Inzamam-ul-Haq. Waugh scored 88 in the second Test win in Hobart and the teams moved to Sydney, where Australia sought a clean sweep. Waugh's 116 from 206 balls was highlighted by his battle against the spinners Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq and was the mainstay of Australia's first innings of 257. Despite the loss, Waugh had compiled 300 runs at 60.00 for the series.

The series against Sri Lanka had started in Perth with speculation regarding Waugh's four consecutive Test ducks. After four hours, Waugh reached his century and ended with 111 to end his run of ducks. On reaching his century, he gestured to a section of the crowd who had been heckling him. Australia won by an innings and Waugh then scored 61 in another innings victory in the second Test in Melbourne. Waugh scored 71 in the third Test and ended with 255 runs at 63.75 in a series clean sweep. During the triangular ODI tournament, Waugh was the Man of the Match in the opening game against the West Indies at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 53 and conceding only 26 runs in 10 overs. Later in the tournament, Waugh returned to the opening position after the omission of Michael Slater, a position he retained until his retirement. In his first match in the role, Waugh scored 130 from 144 balls against Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground. At the time, the innings was the third-highest ODI score by an Australian and the opening partnership of 189 with Taylor was the seventh highest of all time. In the second final, Waugh made 73 in a 135-run partnership with Taylor and then in an unorthodox tactic, he opened the bowling with his off-spin.

Waugh was one of the leading players at the 1996 Cricket World Cup in the Indian subcontinent. Opening the batting, he scored 130 from 130 balls in Australia's opening game against Kenya in Visakhapatnam. He combined in a 207-run partnership with his brother, the first double-century stand in World Cup history. He followed this up with 126 from 135 balls against India in Bombay, frequently hitting through cover and midwicket. The innings made him the first player to score consecutive centuries in World Cup competition. Waugh then dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for 90 when he looked likely to win the game for India.

The fifth Test in Perth against the West Indies marked the 44th time that the Waugh brothers had played together in Tests, surpassing the world record set by Ian and Greg Chappell in the 1970’s. In the limited overs format, Waugh was Australia's leading runscorer in the triangular ODI tournament with 358 runs at 59.66, making 102 against the West Indies in Brisbane. He had scored 1059 ODI runs in the 1996 calendar year. However, the team performance was poor, and Australia missed the finals for the first time in 17 years. The Australian summer was followed by a tour of South Africa. Australia were skittled in the first innings for 108 and were forced to chase 270 for victory on a seaming wicket. After a hard-fought afternoon, Australia reached the close of play at 3/154 with Waugh on 54. The next morning, he continued to his century, before he was bowled for 116, leaving Australia at 6/258. Australia lost two more wickets but stumbled to victory with two wickets in hand. The five and half-hour innings is often regarded as his finest Test performance.

Waugh proceeded to England for his second Ashes tour in 1997 and gained attention upon his arrival for questioning the hunger and toughness of the home team. In the sixth Test after removing from illness, he was dismissed in both innings by his old sparring partner Tufnell, who he had criticised at the start of the series as a "fairly weak sort of player." Waugh's performances in England had stirred questions about his position in the team. The scrutiny increased after Waugh failed to pass 20 in the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane and dropped a catch. Waugh made a turnaround in the second Test in Perth, taking a horizontal airborne catch of Chris Cairns at full stretch. He proceeded to score 86, including a lofted drive from Daniel Vettori onto the roof of the Lillee-Marsh Stand. The ball travelled approximately 130m, one of the longest sixes in history.

In the 1997/98 Test series against South Africa, Waugh finished the year with 0 and 1 against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne. Waugh scored 100 in the New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground to set up an Australian victory. This came during a 116-run partnership with his brother, noted for a particularly menacing spell by Allan Donald with the second new ball, repeatedly hitting the twins. He batted out the entire fifth day for an unbeaten 115 in the third Test at the Adelaide Oval to deny the South Africans a victory and win the series for Australia. Having scored 63 in the first innings, Waugh came the crease late on the fourth day with Australia at 2/17 and attempting to survive for a draw. He was dropped early and was 11 at stumps. Waugh continued to resist on the following day and brought up his century. Struck by a bouncer from Shaun Pollock late on the final day, Waugh broke the stumps with his bat while walking away, so South Africa appealed for hit wicket, which was denied. South African skipper Hansie Cronje later speared a stump through the umpires' dressing room in anger at the decision.

The 1997/98 Australian season marked a change in Waugh's ODI career. The Australian selectors changed their policy and picked Test and ODI teams separately, with specialists chosen accordingly in either form of the game. Waugh's captain and opening partner Taylor was dropped. Australia had trouble finding a suitable partner for Waugh, with Michael di Venuto, Tom Moody and Stuart Law all trialled as his opening partner. Despite the instability, Waugh compiled 104 to help Australia successfully chase a target against New Zealand in a round-robin match at the Adelaide Oval. During the finals series, new wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was elevated to the opening position. The new combination got off to a poor start, with Waugh run out for three in a mix-up in the first final, but the pair went on to become Australia's long term opening pair.

Australia toured Pakistan in late 1998. In the first Test in Rawalpindi, Waugh scored a duck as Australia won by an innings, its first Test win in Pakistan in 39 years. His tour was disrupted by an appearance at a judicial hearing to give evidence relating to allegations of match-fixing he made against Saleem Malik. After making 42 and 43 in the high-scoring second Test in Peshawar, Waugh scored 117 in the second innings of the third Test in Karachi to end the series with 228 runs at 45.60. In the build-up to the third Test in Adelaide, news broke that in 1994/95 Waugh and Shane Warne had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for pitch and weather information. The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) has secretly fined both players for their actions. The ACB's suppression of the case and the actions of the two players were widely condemned. Waugh was booed when he went out to bat in the first innings and, apparently rattled by the hostile reception, he batted scratchily for 36 minutes before being dismissed for seven. He regarded it as the most difficult day of his career.

Waugh started 1999 as he did the previous year, with a century in the New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. After being dropped before he had scored, Waugh scored 121 in five hours on the first day, sharing a partnership of 190 with his brother. He became the fifth Australian to take 100 Test catches when he caught Nasser Hussain in the first innings from the bowling of Colin Miller. Australia won the Test and Waugh ended the series with 393 runs at 56.14, placing him second in the batting averages. In the ODI series, he scored six consecutive half-centuries in a consistent run that augured well for the upcoming World Cup.

Taylor retired after the Australian summer and Steve Waugh became the Test captain and the first assignment was a tour of the Caribbean. Waugh had a modest Test series. Speculation about his future began to simmer again. MARK WAUGH then scored 104 from 120 balls against Zimbabwe at Lord's in the 1999 World Cup. In the process, he passed Allan Border's Australian record of 6,524 ODI career runs and became the first person to score four centuries in World Cup competition. He made a strong start to the 1999/00 Australian summer, scoring 100 in the first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane and then taking a reflex catch to dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq in the second Test at Bellerive Oval, although he only scored five and a duck.

Further poor displays in the early phase of the subsequent ODI tournament, including an innings of 3 from 30 balls, lead to repeated calls for his omission, until he scored a 116 at the Adelaide Oval on Australia Day against India to lay the foundation for Australia's largest ever total on home soil of 5/329. After the being close to omission the previous season, Waugh made a good start to the 2000/01 season, scoring 119 against the West Indies in the second Test in Perth. He added two further half-centuries to total 339 runs at 48.4 as the Windies were defeated 5–0. His productive summer continued in the limited overs format when he went on to score an Australian ODI record of 173 in the second tri-series final against the West Indies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was one of three ODI centuries he scored in that tournament, the others being a 112 and 102, both not out, against the West Indies and Zimbabwe respectively.

During the 2001 Ashes series, Waugh topped the aggregates with 430 runs, scoring Test centuries at Lord's and The Oval. He broke Mark Taylor's world record of 157 Test catches. Waugh was unable to maintain this form in the 2001–02 Australian summer: he totalled 269 (at 33.6) in six Tests against New Zealand and South Africa, without a century. Media scrutiny of his inability to combat short-pitched bowling increased and led to speculation about his long-term future in the team. Nevertheless, he passed two major milestones: the Test at Adelaide marked the 100th Test in which both Waughs played, while the following game was his 100th consecutive Test match.

Maintaining his place in the Test team, Waugh toured South Africa in early 2002. Although he passed 15 in each of his innings, he managed only one half-century in his 169 runs at 33.8. In an attempt to regain form, he had a brief stint with Essex in the English County Championship. In the subsequent three-Test series against Pakistan, played on neutral grounds in Sri Lanka and the UAE due to security reasons, he made only 80 runs at 20. Waugh retired from international cricket in late 2002 after being omitted for the upcoming Test series against England in favour of Darren Lehmann. Waugh retired as Australia's highest run scorer and century maker (18) in ODI cricket, with these records having since been broken by Ricky Ponting.

Waugh was primarily a right-handed batsman who batted in the No. 4 position in Test matches. He was also a handy medium pace bowler, but changed to an off-spin bowler after back injuries restricted him. Waugh is regarded as one of the best slip fielders ever to play cricket and held the world record for most Test catches (181) by a non-wicketkeeper until Rahul Dravid broke it in 2009. In 2002, Waugh did a brief stint as Nine Network cricket commentator during the 3-match Australia-Pakistan ODI series. Waugh was previously a commentator on Network Ten for the Big Bash as well as a national selector. In 2018, Ten lost the rights to the Big Bash.

He was named as an opening batsman in Australia's "greatest ever ODI team." He was also inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame by CA in 2014.