The Resilient Super CAPTAIN. Review on Out of My Comfort Zone - Steve Waugh

"Out of my comfort zone" as you all know is the auto-biography of the famous Australian cricketer Stephen Rodger Waugh or Steve Waughor as he is fondly called “Tugga”. The book is about this humble person from middle-class background and his dream of playing cricket at the highest level. Steve writes about his childhood days with Mark,his twin brother and outlines his cricketing career from 1985 - 2004. He lists his struggles, tactics and also makes critical assessments of various cricketers and cricketing teams as well.

What is in the book

The book starts of with a foreword from surprise-surprise ...Rahul Dravid (Steve makes a reference to Rahul as being his good friend in the book and praises him saying "As an opponent I respected his professionalism and as a friend I admired his balanced views and the way he treated people from all walks of life equally"). The biography starts by providing insights into his family and how he always wanted to be in sports. The choice he makes for Cricket instead of Football and later his entry into the Australian test side. Steve recollects his first tour to India for the resolute nature of the poor people of India to carry on in spite of many problems in life. As he blandly puts it "This is India. I both loved and hated it". He recounts the matches that let up to the 1987 World Cup and how the ultimate victory was achieved. He makes references to the dubious umpiring when the team travelled to Pakistan and also mostly recounts the Ashes encounters with Poms(as he calls the English). He ridicules some of the English cricketers for their lack of conviction to the game and country.

Steve Waugh reveals inside information about Match-fixing controversy right from when he first came to know about it. He recalls the delirious offers made by Salim Malikand leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed to lose a game. He also makes reference to the former Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and SA former Hansie Cronjeand how he could not believe that they were involved in the match-fixing controversy. With regards to Azzu his comment goes like this “Modest man blessed with extraordinary gifts for cricket. His only vice seemed to be a penchant for designer clothes. I always found him good company, polite and courteous”.

He also gives account of how he got involved with Udayan and this particular episode reflects that Steve was an extremely considerate and caring person. A person, who could not see people suffering and did his bit for the well being of the society and human kind. He describes his meeting with Mother Theresa as one of the memorable moments in life and how he gained a clearer perspective of life after this meeting.

The later stages of the book are about his struggles with the media and his fight to remain in the team as he was growing older. The book culminates by detailing his last series with India and Sydney test match in which he scored 80.

His love and craze for the game of cricket is posted in the last few lines of the book. It goes like this “I was born with cricket in my blood and I’ll die that way.There is nothing like it (cricket), the excitement of the unknown. Once it seduces you, you’re hooked for life”

Assessment of the book and Steve Waugh

Critically, Steve came across as a person who seem to be take sides. For instance he seemed to have blacklisted Michael Slaterand looked like he was directly involved in the explusion of Slater from the Australian team. On the contrary Justin Langerlooked to be his trusted lieutenants and is full of praise for Langer.

Steve also seemed like a guy who always gave excuses for losses instead of looking for the reasons or accepting the fact that on some occasions he or his team members were just not good enough. For instance he gives so many excuses for the 1996 World cup final loss against Sri Lanka.

The way he has depicted English cricketers was appalling. He goes to extreme lengths in criticizing the English attitude and players. He also sends back his wife who was pregnant to Australia, saying I don’t want my child to be born in England and become a Pom.

Steve Waugh also makes critical assessments of many cricketers and cricketing teams. Among Indian cricketers he talks about Sachin Tendulkar, Saurov Ganguly, Virendar Sehwag among others. I personally agree 100% with regards to his assessments of these players.

About Sachin Tendulkar and his captaincy Steve expresses that he is weak leader and not a player with steel. Steve seemed to be irked by Saurav’s attitude and goes on to say “I saw Saurav as elitist, a bloke who made few rules for himself in his exalted position and who thought the world revolved around him”

I was amazed at Steve recollection of every single incident be it on field or in the dressing room or the way they partied after every single victory. For instance he gives account of some of the great innings he played and how he motivated himself in the field and precisely what he was speaking to himself (May be he maintained a diary…)

Steve Waugh according to me was not the greatest batsman. In fact his brother Mark Waugh was a better batsman any day. But the reason Steve Waugh is known all over the world over is due to 2 reasons

1) The impact he made to the game of cricket with his captaincy –He led the Australian team to the height of success in both forms of cricket through this tactics and ideologies. His tactics and leadership have had a lasting impact on the game and has changed the way cricket is played today.

For instance in the book he outlines how the team went on to win 15 continuous tests. He asked the batsmen to score as quickly as possible because he believed Australian team would not loose and in order to eliminate draws, why not score fast. It has altered the pace at which batsmen score runs in test cricket forever

In One-day cricket he was the first person to employ the rotation policy which is eminently followed by the Indian team today with fruitful results.

2 ) Steve Waugh the personality– His humanity and social work to homeless children in Calcutta showed the world the traits of this great personality. Also because he was a man with resilience and through his sheer mental toughness overcame the obstacles.

The pictures in this book are of top quality and enhance the appeal of the narration. Overall the book is a systematic account of Steve Waugh’s life and is very well written to keep you interested. Anybody who loves cricket should read this book.

References to some cricketers in the book

Salim Malik - 'The Rat with the gold tooth' (seemed like Tugga hated Salim Malik the most)

Javed Miandad - 'Street Fighter'

Shoaib Akhtar - 'B-grade actor'

Curtly Ambrose – Supreme Fast-Bowling Machine

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