Revealed: Waugh’s secret classy gesture to cricket minnows thrown to the wolves

Australia’s current batters will be licking their lips if this week’s first Test against Bangladesh at Darwin’s Marrara Stadium proves to be a run fest like 23 years ago.

Steve Waugh’s all-conquering team gave Test cricket’s relative newcomers such a brutal introduction to the game’s longest format in Australia that they have not appeared on these shores in whites since.

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Fox Cricket commentator and legendary Australian wicket-keeper batter Adam Gilchrist remembers long days in the Top End watching his teammates pile on the runs.

“I batted in the Darwin Test match against Bangladesh, but didn’t in the Cairns game,” Australia’s then No.7 told foxsports.com.au.

“The guys batted pretty well.”

The scorecards match up with Gilchrist’s memories.

Australia won by an innings and 132-run win inside three days in Darwin.

They followed that up with an innings and 98-run victory by lunch on day four in Cairns.

The one-sided scorelines are partly to blame for the fact Bangladesh have not played Test cricket down under since that 2003 series.

But with the ICC determining that Australia must host Bangladesh this World Test Championship, the merits of red ball cricket in the Top End have been remembered.

While the rest of Australia is consumed by the football codes in the winter months, Darwin’s dry season offers a slice of cricketing nirvana for those bidding their time in the chilly southern states until football posts are taken down and cricket pitches are rolled.

Many club cricketers make the pilgrimage north to hone their skills in the warmer climate.

As the results suggested, it was an opportunity that Waugh’s all-time great XI relished.

“It’s not quite the focus and glare of the traditional summer Test matches. There’s a somewhat more relaxed feel up there,” Gilchrist told foxsports.com.au of playing in Darwin.

“It’s refreshing. My recollection is it’s new. It’s different.

“But for a Test match, it’s a change in the landscape and the familiarity you have with other venues.

“I think that air of freshness can bring about a really exciting feel for a group.”

Marrara Stadium’s debut was not the only slice of history to emerge from Australia’s crushing victory over Bangladesh, who were awarded Test status only three years earlier and were yet to register a victory.

Khaled Mahmud’s side were truly thrown to the wolves.

Mahmud was already Bangladesh’s third Test captain and had played only five Tests himself to that point.

They were a shell of the current side, who pulled off a clean sweep of Pakistan in their last two series, drew a series in the Caribbean in 2024 and won a Test in New Zealand in 2022 when the Blackcaps were world test champions.

The late David Hookes even wrote in a newspaper column, with the headline “Now for a one-day Test”, that Bangladesh were not worthy of Test status.

“Steve Waugh should send them in to bat, bowl them out before lunch, bat until tea and declare, then send them back in and roll them again before stumps,” Hookes wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It could be all over in a day. Bangladesh doesn’t deserve to be in Test cricket and they shouldn’t be given any favours out on the field. If the Australian team is being true to the Test cap their aim will be to go out there and annihilate Bangladesh.”

It was a comment that did not sit well with Waugh, who revealed as much in a classy interaction with his counterpart on the eve of the match.

“Before the Test series kicked off in Darwin, there was a get-together, and we were having evening tea, and while we were standing out at the balcony and chatting among ourselves, out of nowhere Steve Waugh suddenly came over and asked me how I was doing?” Mahmud recalled to Cricbuzz.

“Later he (Waugh) asked, ‘Do you guys read the newspapers?’ I said, ‘Not usually, but sometimes.’ He asked, ‘Did you read David Hookes comment?’ I said, ‘Yes, we did.’ He told us, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just a mad man talking and I believe you are a much better team than that and you’ll play well against us. I wish you all the best.”

Meanwhile, the men in baggy greens had once again brushed England side the previous summer – with Waugh dismissing retirement talk with his iconic last ball of the day century at the SCG.

Under the guidance of ODI skipper Ricky Ponting and despite Shane Warne’s shock drug ban, the Australians went unbeaten in South Africa on their way to claiming a second straight World Cup crown earlier in the year.

They then followed that up by claiming a 3-1 Test series victory in the West Indies.

Australia’s team chock full of all-time greats then set their sights on ticking off some milestones against Bangladesh.

But they did so with class.

“We heard the Australians sledge a lot, but we didn’t see any of it on the field,” Mahmud recalled to Cricbuzz.

“Steve Waugh’s team didn’t go anywhere near sledging. Even against a weak and inexperienced team like ours, their approach and application was 100% professional. They didn’t bowl any loose deliveries - full toss, half volley, over pitched or short of length. They played with a 100 per cent professional approach.

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“They played like they always do. Very nice approach and professional. They bowled with a plan and by using their brain. Leg-spinner MacGill bowled three of his customary deliveries before dishing out a googly, and we were totally unfamiliar with it.”

The Australians’ class was highlighted by Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie surpassing Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall as Australia’s most decorated new ball pair when they ran through the Bangladeshi top order on day one in Darwin.

“I think we’ve slid down that list now with Starc and Hazlewood,” Gillespie told foxsports.com.au.

“But a great honour and to have that accolade with my great man Glenn for a couple of years was pretty cool. Very special.”

The visitors were knocked over for just 97 as McGrath and Brett Lee claimed three wickets a piece while Gillespie and Stuart MacGill shared the rest of the scalps with two each.

Australia’s attack seemingly had no issue with the conditions that were unusual at the time, but a commonplace now.

“At Marrara Oval, they had the drop-in pitch. Hadn’t had much experience playing on a drop-in pitch,” Gillespie told foxsports.com.au.

“I’d played at Marvel Stadium. I think it was the old Colonial Stadium back then when we played those games early days under the roof in the Australian winter.

“That was my only other experience with the drop-in wicket.”

With the bat, Darren Lehmann then took the chance to fill his boots after being recalled to the Australian side in place of Mark Waugh for the previous summer’s Ashes.

The Sheffield Shield’s all-time leading run scorer was prolific at the level below, but questions were asked of his place in the Test side after an underwhelming series against England.

A monster 160 and a score of 96 on the West Indies tour repaid the selectors’ faith, however, and Lehmann cashed in against Bangladesh with 110 in Darwin.

The left-hander then followed it up with 177 in the second Test in Cairns.

A 141-run stand with Justin Langer (71) set up Australia’s first innings total of 7/407 declared.

Waugh put the exclamation mark on the dominant batting display by reaching his unbeaten century before putting the tourists back in.

The skipper’s 100 not out made him just the second player after South Africa’s Gary Kirsten to score a century against all nine other countries who then boasted Test status.

“If you play long enough you are going to reach milestones and records are going to be passed and I’m sure someone down the track will beat those,” Waugh said after stumps on day two.

“But it is nice to achieve things and to score a hundred against every country is something I’m proud of.

“I’m not too concerned about records. I just want to go out there and play well and I’ve said if I don’t think I can improve then I shouldn’t be there.”

Waugh’s history making was not done there.

His bowlers once again ripped apart Bangladesh’s batters even though they did put up more of fight in making 178.

MacGill led the way with five wickets and Waugh became statistically the most successful captain in Test history.

It was his 37th victory in charge of the Australian team – surpassing West Indian great Clive Lloyd.

A milestone that Gilchrist said was cherished by the players and the fans.

“It’s a pretty relaxed town at the best times, so it was pretty easy to find a cool treat and celebrate a Test match victory and enjoy it together,” he told foxsports.com.au.

“That Top End of Australia is an iconic part of Australia’s identity and it was just a pleasure to be up there and to share in it.

“You’re probably a little bit closer to the supporters that are there given the locals don’t get a huge amount of top-level sport.

“So, they do really appreciate it when they get the chance. It was really well embraced and it’s a really nice atmosphere.”

Darwin last hosted Test cricket in 2004 when Australia claimed a 149-run victory against Sri Lanka with Gilchrist at the helm in Ponting’s absence.

The venue has not hosted ODI cricket since 2008, when Bangladesh toured for three games.

A 17-year international cricket drought came to an end with two T20Is against South Africa last August.

While Mackay returned to men’s internationals for the first time since the 1992 World Cup with two ODIs against South Africa last year, including Cameron Green smashing the second fastest ever ODI century by an Australian.

The Great Barrier Reef Arena will make its Test debut in this series and cricket’s return to the Top End has very much been welcomed by Gilchrist.

“It’s a really positive thing to be playing these games up there,” he told foxsports.com.au.

Gillespie wholeheartedly agrees.

“My memories from Darwin have always been very fond,” the former fast bowler, who hit a double ton against Bangladesh in 2006, told foxsports.com.au.

“Wonderful memories playing the Test match against Bangladesh, and the year after against Sri Lanka.

“I remember the enthusiasm of the crowds, not having had international cricket there before.”

“I’ve been saying this for the last few years, we’ve got a unique opportunity in Australia – we’re one of the few if not only countries that can genuinely play international cricket 12 months of the year,” he added.

“We should be making the most of that. We’ve got these wonderful arenas in Darwin, Cairns and Mackay, we should be doing everything we can to utilise it every year.

“Administrators talk about how hard it is to squeeze all international cricket into the current calendar with everything that’s going on with international cricket and franchise cricket.

“It just makes sense to me that we utilise northern Australia and get the Australian teams – male and female – playing up there more regularly.”

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