Milestone beckons Waugh

Milestone beckons Waugh
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dunedin, Feb 22: Steve Waugh could pass another milestone on Wednesday as his Australians go after a record-equaling 12th straight One-day cricket win when the play New Zealand at Carisbrook.

A victory by Australia would equal the record held by Graham Gooch's 1991-92 England team.

Waugh needs just six runs to pass Allan Border on the list of Australia's leading scorers in One-day cricket, placing him second behind twin brother Mark in a career that has already spanned record 288 matches.

It's a milestone that does not publicly excite the captain, who has been seen in a somewhat different role since Australia went to the top of the One-day game with its World Cup victory at Lord's in June.

Waugh scored more than half of his career tally of 6,519 One-day runs batting at No 5 for Australia. But his position has been flexible recently, coming in at six and even seven after moving Michael Bevan up to the No 4 role.

Waugh's 120 not out against South Africa was the key Australian innings in the World Cup. In the 20 matches since the World Cup, Waugh has only once come to the crease before the score reached 50. On that day, he stuck around for an 81 not out -- the only half-century he's scored since the World Cup.

Despite the statistics, Waugh played down the change in his role as he prepared to join brother Mark (7,322 runs) at the top of the Australian run-scoring ladder.