Stephen Rodger Waugh AO is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman and a medium-pace bowler, Waugh is considered one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Waugh was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Australia to fifteen of their record sixteen consecutive Test wins, and to victory in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Waugh is considered the most successful Test captain in history with 41 victories and a winning ratio of 72%.

Born at Canterbury Hospital in Campsie, a suburb in South-Western Sydney on 2 June 1965, Waugh was one of twin boys born to Rodger and Beverley Waugh. He arrived four minutes before Mark, who went on to play cricket for Australia alongside him. The family settled in the South-Western Sydney suburb of Panania. From an early age, the parents introduced them to sport. In their first cricket match, the brothers were both dismissed for ducks. In 1976, the twins were the youngest ever to be selected in the New South Wales Primary Schools' soccer team. The boys were instrumental in New South Wales winning the cricket carnival without a defeat, in one match combining in a partnership of 150. The twins progressed to East Hills Boys Technology High School, which had a history of producing Australian international representatives in a number of sports.

Aged fourteen, both made their senior grade cricket debut in 1979/1980, playing in the Fourth XI. The twins broke into East Hills Boys First XI in the same season, and achieved the same level in soccer. In 1980/81 the brothers were elevated to the Third XI mid-season. The brothers often formed a two-man team - in one match taking 16/85 between them. The twins finished high school at the end of 1983. In 1983–84, both were members of New South Wales Combined High Schools and the state under-19 team. 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. Waugh scored 187 in the Third Test at Melbourne as Australia won 1–0. At the start of the 1984/85 season, the brothers were included in the New South Wales state squad.

Steve Waugh made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 1984/85, batting at number nine and bowling medium pace. In the Sheffield Shield final that season, he scored 71 while batting with the tail to help NSW to victory. After ten first-class matches for NSW, he made his Test debut against India in the 1985/86 season, in the Second Test at Melbourne. He scored 13 and 5 and took 2/36 in the first innings. Failing to make a substantial score in the series (he tallied 26 runs in four innings), Waugh was retained for the subsequent tour of New Zealand. He had a good all-round match in the Second Test at Christchurch, making 74 and claiming 4/56.

The Australian selectors persisted with Waugh, and he toured India in 1986, despite having scored only 113 runs at 12.56 in his Test career. During the three Tests, Waugh had limited opportunities and scored 59 runs for once out and took two wickets. At this stage of his career, Waugh bore a heavy workload as a bowler although he was ostensibly selected for his batting. He played in all six ODIs on tour, scoring 111 runs at 55.50 and taking seven wickets at 35.86. He bowled a long spell, taking 3/76, in the First Test against England at Brisbane in 1986/87, then scored 0 and 28 as Australia slumped to defeat. In the Second Test at Perth, he made 71 and had match figures of 5/159 including 5/69 in the second innings, then he scored 79 not out in the drawn Third Test at Adelaide. Scores of 49 and 73 in the last two Tests, gave him series figures of 310 runs (at 44.29) and ten wickets, a fighting effort in a team defeated 1–2. The win in the Fifth Test was the first time that Waugh was in a victorious Test team, in his 13th match.

In One-Day internationals Waugh regularly performed with both bat and ball. In a match against Pakistan, he scored 82 and then took 4/48 but could not stop the visitors taking a one-wicket victory from the second last ball. He then scored 83* and took 2/30 in an Australia Day victory against England. Early in his international career, Waugh was a natural, uninhibited strokeplayer who liked to drive off the back foot. He could score quickly, but was inconsistent at Test level and seemed better suited to ODI cricket. In the shorter game, he often accelerated the scoring in the later overs of the innings. As a bowler, he was known for his astute change of pace and was the pioneer in inventing a carefully disguised slower ball bowled from the back of the hand, and regularly sent down the final overs, when his astute change of pace was difficult to score from.

The 1987 World Cup, played on the Indian subcontinent, was the turning point of Waugh's career. Having scored 19* in the death overs against India in the first match, Waugh's tight bowling in the closing overs finished with his dismissal of Maninder Singh in the final over, which secured a one-run victory. In the following match against Zimbabwe, Waugh scored 45 before conceding only seven runs in six overs of bowling as the Australians won by 96 runs. In the following match against New Zealand, Waugh bowled the last over with the Kiwis requiring seven runs for victory: he restricted them to only three runs by taking two wickets in the over. Australia qualified for the semi-finals and defeated co-hosts Pakistan on their home soil in Lahore. Australia then defeated England by seven runs to claim the World Cup for the first time. Waugh compiled 167 runs at 55.66 and took 11 wickets at 26.18. These performances in tight situations earned him the nickname of "Iceman.”

Heading into the 1989 Ashes series, Waugh's batting average was 30.52 from 26 Tests.[56] In the three-match ODI series that preceded the Tests, Waugh scored 113 runs at 37.66 and took three wickets at 54.00. Waugh finally scored his maiden Test century, 177 not out in the First Test at Leeds. It was a free flowing innings marked by square driving, in just over five hours of batting which helped Australia set the platform for a win with a large first innings. He followed this with an unbeaten 152 in the Second Test at Lord's, adeptly shepherding his tailend partners to help Australia set up a winning 242 run lead in the first innings. He was not dismissed in first innings of the Third Test for 43. Waugh scored 92 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford in another win. It was on this tour that he first experienced back problems that would hinder his bowling.

The highlight of the 1989/90 home series’ was an unbeaten 134 against Sri Lanka in the Second Test in Hobart. This followed twin half centuries in the First Test. His focus on batting saw him aggregate only 1/19 with the ball for the seven Tests. Thereafter his Test form tapered off. After scoring only 99 runs at 19.80 in the first nine ODIs in Australia, Waugh was dropped for the Second Final against Pakistan, which Australia won. In 1990, Waugh joined his twin brother Mark in an unbeaten partnership of 464 in 407 minutes for NSW against Western Australia (WA) at the WACA Ground, setting a world first-class record. Both teams were at full strength and WA's attack included Test bowlers Terry Alderman, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews. The twins ended with 216 and 229 respectively.

He suffered a form slump during the 1990=91 Ashes series in Australia, and was dropped for the Fourth Test at Adelaide after making only 82 runs at 20.50. He was replaced by his twin Mark, who scored a century on debut. However, Waugh remained a regular in the ODI team, playing in all ten ODIs, scoring 141 runs at 35.25 and taking seven wickets at 49.42. Recalled for the Third Test in Trinidad during the 1991 tour of the Caribbean, he and Mark became the first twins to play in a Test match together. However, he failed to post a significant score and was dropped for the Fifth Test, Australia's only win for the series. Waugh remained out of the Test team for eighteen months and did not see action in the five-day format in 1991/92 season.

During the 1993 Ashes tour of England, Michael Slater became the regular opener and Boon returned to the middle order. Waugh gained the number six position ahead of two promising Western Australians, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn. In the Fourth Test at Headingley, Waugh's 157 not out earned comparisons to his efforts in 1989 and he shared an unbroken stand of 332 with Allan Border. He also scored half-centuries in the First and Fifth Tests and ended with 416 at 83.2 from limited opportunities – he played nine innings, only five of which were completed. Australia's top order batting dominated the English attack, and the tourists retained the Ashes 4–1.

Returning to Australia, he solidified his position by scoring an unbeaten 147 against New Zealand in an innings victory in the Third Test at Brisbane, ending the series with 216 runs once dismissed. Waugh played in the Third Test against South Africa at Adelaide Oval in late January with Australia trailing 1–0. He scored a 160 and took 4/26 as Australia won the Test and levelled the series. Waugh was named as international player of the Australian season. He took 5/28 and scored 86 in the Second Test of the return series in South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town to help Australia level the series 1–1 after losing the first at Wanderers in Johannesburg. Another half century saw him end with 195 runs at 65.00 and his bowling was at its most productive in five years, with 10 wickets at 13.00. In the ODI series, he received the player of the series for his all-round efforts, which hauled Australia back from a deficit of 2–4 to draw the series at 4–4. Waugh took 2/48 in the final match as Australia levelled the series by one run.

At the conclusion of the tour, the Australian Cricket Board interviewed Waugh, along with David Boon, Mark Taylor and Ian Healy to discern their opinions on the direction of the team after the impending retirement of Allan Border as captain. In spite of Waugh's greater experience, Taylor was granted the captaincy, while Healy was made vice-captain. The new leadership took the team to Sri Lanka for the Singer World Series ODI tournament and then on a Test-playing tour of Pakistan. Waugh made 73 in the First Test, which Australia agonisingly lost by one wicket. His 98 in the Second Test at Rawalpindi was notable for his survival against a hostile barrage of short-pitched bowling from Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He eventually fell when a bouncer struck his body and rolled onto the stumps.

During the 1994/95 Ashes series against England, he narrowly missed centuries in the Second and Fifth Test in Melbourne and Perth respectively, when he was 94 and 99 not out respectively when the last wicket fell. In the second instance, his brother Mark was run out after a mix-up while running for the injured Craig McDermott. The West Indies had been the bête noire of Australian cricket since winning the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1978. At the beginning of Australia's 1995 tour of the Caribbean, the West Indies had not lost a Test series since 1980, and had not lost a Test series to Australia at home since 1973.

After scoring 65 not out in the drawn Second Test at Antigua, Waugh defied the Caribbean pacemen on a green pitch at Trinidad suited to their hostile bowling during the Third Test. In the first innings, he scored an unbeaten 63 of Australia's 128 and had a mid-pitch confrontation with Curtly Ambrose. After Waugh had evaded a bouncer from Ambrose, the pair exchanged glares. Waugh swore and told Ambrose to return to his bowling mark. An angry Ambrose had to be physically dragged away by his captain. It symbolised the point when Australia was no longer intimidated by the West Indies. Waugh "showed he was prepared to put it all on the line.”

Nevertheless, the West Indies won the match and levelled the series. In the decider in Jamaica, Waugh took 2/14 in the West Indies' first innings of 265 and then arrived at the crease with Australia at 73 for three in reply. He compiled a long partnership of 231 runs with his brother Mark, who was eventually out for 126. Waugh was the last man to go, out for 200 after nine hours of batting. When he came back to the dressing room at the end of day two, there were spots and bruises all over his body. Waugh played patiently to reach his double century with an all-run four to fine-leg off a quicker ball from Carl Hooper. He was the last man out. With a large lead on first innings, Australia dismissed the opposition for a low score to win a crushing victory. Waugh retired to bed still wawring his cricket whites, socks and baggy green.

Waugh started the 1995/96 Australian season ranked as the world's leading Test batsman. He made an unbeaten 112 as Australia defeated Pakistan in the First Test at Brisbane and scored 200 runs at 50.00 for the series. Suffering an injury in December, he missed the First Test against Sri Lanka and part of the triangular ODI tournament, then returned for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne to score 131 not out. Waugh returned during the latter stages of the triangular tournament, playing in the last four matches after missing the first six. He scored his maiden ODI century, ten years after his ODI debut, with an unbeaten 102 against Sri Lanka in Melbourne. He helped Australia to a 3–0 result in the Test series by scoring 170 and 61 not out at Adelaide to end the series with 362 runs for once out. He also took 4/34 in the Third Test.

During the 1996 Cricket World Cup on the subcontinent, Waugh scored 82 and featured in a 207-run partnership with his brother during Australia's first match against Kenya: an Australian record partnership at the World Cup. He made an unbeaten half-century in the quarter-final against New Zealand at Madras, sealing a successful run chase. However, he was less effective in the semi-final and final. After the World Cup, Geoff Marsh replaced Bob Simpson as coach. The Australians started the new era with two ODI tournaments in Sri Lanka and India. Waugh scored 366 runs at 40.66 with three half-centuries and took five wickets at 37.40 across nine matches. The tour ended with a solitary Test against India in Delhi, where Waugh was the only Australian to make a half-century in a defeat.

Waugh returned to form on the 1997 tour of South Africa, averaging 78.25. He scored 160 in the First Test at Johannesburg, compiling a 385-run partnership with Greg Blewett. They batted for the entire third day's play to set up an innings victory. Waugh then top scored with half-centuries in both innings of the Third Test, which Australia lost. After the team's vice-captain Ian Healy was suspended for throwing his bat after his dismissal, Waugh replaced him as Mark Taylor's deputy. Waugh continued his strong run in the seven ODIs, scoring 301 runs at 50.16 with four half-centuries. After scoring 50 and 50* in the first two matches, he scored 89 in a run chase in the sixth match as Australia sealed the series 4–2 with one over in hand. He then scored 91 in the last match in a vain run chase.

Waugh took over the captaincy of the one-day side in 1997/98, after captain Mark Taylor and vice-captain Ian Healy, the two oldest players in the team were dropped following Australia's failure to qualify for the Australian tri-nations tournament in the 1996/97 season. Planning began for a more modern team for the 1999 Cricket World Cup, with the batting prowess of new wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist to prove critical. The new team made a difficult start, losing all four of its preliminary matches against South Africa as Michael Di Venuto, Tom Moody and Stuart Law were all tried as Mark Waugh's new opening partner. However, with Gilchrist's elevation to opener in the finals series, Australia defeated the South Africans 2–1. Waugh scored 53 and 71 in his two innings.

Waugh scored steadily in the 1997/98 Test season against New Zealand and South Africa, getting to 80 three times in six Tests without going on to a century and averaging 40.89; Australia won both series. He bowled more often than in the preceding few years and took six wickets at 17.33. On the 1998 tour of India, he hit 80 in the Second Test at Calcutta, but missed the following Test due to injury. Later in the year, he top scored with 157 in the First Test against Pakistan at Karachi, enabling Australia to force an innings victory and gain their first victory in the country for 39 years. It formed the basis of Australia's 1–0 series win, in which Waugh scored 235 runs at 58.75.

Waugh began the Ashes series with centuries in the First Test at Brisbane (112) and the Third Test at Melbourne but was criticised for taking singles off the first ball of the over, and exposing the tail-end batsmen to the strike. Stuart MacGill and Glenn McGrath fell to Darren Gough after one such instance as Australia collapsed in the second innings whilst chasing a small target. In the Fifth Test of the season, Waugh was involved in a century partnership with brother Mark for the second consecutive year. Again however, he fell within sight of triple figures for 96, while his brother reached his century. Australia won the Test and the series 3–1.

Mark Taylor retired at the end of the 1998/99 season and Waugh replaced him as Test captain, beginning with a tour of the Caribbean. After easily winning the First Test, Australia was stymied by West Indies skipper Brian Lara, who batted with Jimmy Adams for the entire second day of the Second Test. This led to a victory for the home side, and in the Third Test, Lara batted for the entire final day to secure an unlikely win by one wicket. This result placed Waugh under immense pressure and he made a controversial decision to drop Shane Warne from the team for the final Fourth Test. Australia won the final Test despite a third consecutive century from Lara, and retained the Frank Worrell Trophy 2–2.

Australia then had a slow start to the 1999 World Cup in England. After suffering defeats to New Zealand and Pakistan, they had to win their two remaining group matches (against Bangladesh and the West Indies), then all three "Super Six" matches to progress to the semi-finals: this meant seven consecutive matches without defeat to win the World Cup. After defeating Bangladesh, Waugh and Michael Bevan were criticised for deliberately batting slowly in order to minimise damage to the net run rate of the West Indies. Having beaten India and Zimbabwe in their first two Super Six matches, Waugh saved his best for two must-win games against South Africa: he scored an unbeaten 120 against South Africa in the "Super Six" phase and 56 in the semi-final. Australia progressed to the final,where they crushed Pakistan by eight wickets to win the trophy.

The 1999/2000 Test season, his first as captain in a home series, saw further change as Gilchrist ousted Healy from the wicket-keeper's position. With Gilchrist averaging over 50, the team went on to claim a clean-sweep of both Test series, 3–0 against Pakistan and India respectively. Waugh returned to form in the First Test against India at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 150 in the first innings. Waugh only passed fifty once more in the series to end with 276 runs at 55.20. Australia won all three Tests by comfortable margins. They then toured New Zealand and won the ODI series 5–1, losing their final match, which ended a world record of 14 consecutive ODI victories. They then swept the Tests against New Zealand 3–0 in early 2000, taking the Tests by 62 runs, six wickets and six wickets respectively. Waugh led the way in the Second Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington with an unbeaten 151.

The only significant result that Australia had failed to achieve during Waugh's international career was victory in a Test series in India. Waugh began calling this the "Final Frontier" as Australia had not won there since 1969–70. Australia easily won the First Test at Mumbai by ten wickets to extend the winning sequence to 16. India, looked set for defeat in the Second Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata after conceding a first innings lead of 274. Waugh top-scored in the first innings with 110. Waugh chose to enforce the follow-on, the only time that Australia had chosen to do so for more than five years. However, VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) batted for the entire fourth day's play and set Australia a target of 384 on a dusty, spinning wicket. The Australians were unable to cope with the spin of Harbhajan Singh on the final day, and became only the third team to lose a Test after enforcing the follow-on. Starting the final Test well, Australia's batting collapsed on the second morning, losing 6/26 after Waugh became the sixth batsman to be given out handled the ball—he pushed a ball from Harbhajan away from the stumps after being hit on the pads.

Waugh's team regrouped and won a 4–1 series victory over England during the 2001 Ashes tour. He scored 105 in the First Test at Edgbaston as the Australians started the series with an innings victory. Waugh did not pass 50 in the next two Tests, but Australia won both by eight and seven wickets respectively to retain the Ashes.He was unable to maintain this form during the 2001/02 Australian season, failing to score a century in the six Tests against New Zealand and South Africa. Australia then went on to face South Africa, who were the second-ranked Test team in the world and were seen as the leading challengers to Australian supremacy. His best score of the series was 90 in the Second Test at the MCG. Australia powered to a nine-wicket win and then polished off a 3–0 sweep with a ten-wicket triumph in the Third Test at the SCG.

Australia made an uncertain start to the 2001/02 VB Series, losing the first three of its preliminary matches. A rotation policy designed to ease the workload on older players while giving younger players experience appeared to unsettle the team, and was scrapped. Following this decision, Australia won four of the last five matches, but failed to qualify for the finals for only the third time in 23 years. With an eye toward the next World Cup, the selectors dropped the Waugh brothers and handed the captaincy to Ricky Ponting. Waugh made his displeasure at the decision public and stated a desire to regain his place in the side. Continuing as Test captain, Waugh led the team to a 2–1 victory in South Africa to retain Australia's ranking as the number one team.

The speculation continued about the future of both Waugh brothers in the lead up to the Test series against Pakistan played in mid-2002. Australia had a crushing 3–0 win, winning the two latter matches by an innings, but the Waughs had little influence on the result. However, Steve hit 103 not out in his last innings of the series, after scoring consecutive ducks. This may have saved his career; his brother Mark was dropped for the 2002/03 Ashes series and promptly announced his retirement from international cricket. Despite his team being well on top, Waugh struggled in the early part of the Ashes series and he scored only 106 runs in four innings in the first three Tests. In the Fourth Test at the MCG, he scored 77 in the first innings and took his first Test wicket in four years.

The Fifth Test in his hometown Sydney started with speculation that it would be Waugh's last Test unless he reversed his ongoing form slump. On the second day of the match he then fulfilled this prophecy, scoring a chanceless century – bringing up three figures with a cover driven boundary from the last ball of the day. Waugh left the ground to a standing ovation, having equalled Sir Donald Bradman's then Australian record of 29 Test centuries, as well as saving his own Test career. The Australian winter of 2003 saw Waugh score consecutive unbeaten centuries of 100 and 156 as Australia took a 2–0 sweep over Bangladesh with innings victories. The Australian summer started in late-2003 and after scoring 78 and 61 in the two Tests against Zimbabwe, which Australia won by an innings and nine wickets respectively, Waugh announced that the 2003/04 series against India would be his last.

After a rain affected draw in the First Test, the next two Tests were shared and Australia needed a win to reclaim the Border–Gavaskar Trophy in the final Fourth Test at Waugh's home ground at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Promoters paid tribute to Waugh by handing out giant red handkerchiefs to incoming spectators; Waugh had always used a red handkerchief to wipe perspiration while he was batting. Any hope of a fairytale win for Waugh disappeared when India batted into the third morning and amass 7/705 (with Sachin Tendulkar smashing 241*), obliging Australia to chase 449 with just over one day's play. Waugh's highest Test score of the season was his last: 80 in the Fourth Test at Sydney, which secured a draw for Australia. When he passed 50, several ferries on Sydney Harbour sounded their horns in acknowledgement. A record fifth-day SCG crowd turned out to watch Waugh's final day as an Australian player.

Steve Waugh's approach led to a succession of victories and a record run of 16 consecutive Test match wins, beating the previous record of 11 by the West Indies. His 168 Test matches was the record for Test matches played until 2010; of these he captained Australia on 57 occasions, the fourth highest of all time, and Australia's 41 victories under his leadership, was the most of any Test captain, until Ricky Ponting surpassed him in December 2009. He holds the record of having scored over 150 runs in one innings against each Test playing nation at the time. Waugh was named Australian of the Year in 2004, in recognition of both his sporting achievements and charity work.

He was named as the captain in Australia's "greatest ever ODI team." On 3 February 2009 Steve Waugh became the 30th cricketer inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. Waugh was awarded the Australian Sports Medal on 14 July 2000. He was awarded the Allan Border Medal by the CA in 2001. Waugh was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2003 Birthday Honours "for service to cricket as a leading player, and to the community.