60 years of Waugh: How cricket’s greatest twins, Steve and Mark, forged their own identities

Mark and Steve Waugh, who turn 60 today, remain cricket’s greatest twins and collectively one of the game’s most captivating stories. Robert Craddock talks to the friends who know them best.

During the 1995 West Indian tour, photographer Ray Titus nailed a world exclusive – a victory shot of the Waugh brothers actually touching each other.

“Guys you know the rules – no touchies,’’ Steve used to playfully quip to snappers when the two were shot together.

Neither twin enjoyed the experience of the mandatory “arms behind each other’’ request. There was no angst at all. For working class kids from western Sydney it just felt a bit … cringey.

But Australia had just become the first team to beat the West Indies in 15 years so Mark and Steve, urged on by Titus for one little victory hug, looked at each other for a second’s contemplation then decided to have a quick embrace.

It lasted all of about three seconds.

A collector’s item. Picture: Shaun Botterill/ALLSPORT

Mark and Steve, who turn 60 today, remain cricket’s greatest twins and collectively one of the game’s most captivating stories right down to the fact that when Steve told his family he had been dropped from the Test team and they asked who the replacement was he said “Mark’’.

Great players and good men, they collectively brought fight, flair and fibre to Australian cricket in the 1990s after the soul-destroying 1980s.

They played in an era when players had a roommate but, by choice, the brothers did not room together for Australia.

When asked to explain it, Steve said: “We spent nine months in the same womb then 18 years in the same room … do you seriously think we need to spend more time together?’’

Teammate Gavin Robertson, a friend of both, can understand the vibe. “They spent 18 years living on a single bed one metre apart then they played soccer together, tennis together and lived in the same cars,’’ Robertson said.

“You could not blame them for wanting for them to eventually create their own lives.’’

Steve and Mark Waugh over the years.

When they batted together teammates would smile at the fact they would barely ever look at each other in mid-wicket conferences.

They often had different friendship groups on tour though at key moments had each other’s back.

Mike Whitney recalls once venting frustration at seeing Mark get out to an ambitious shot for NSW and being checked by Steve with “you know that’s the way he plays so he is not going to come off all the time’’.

The contrasts of the duo were captivating.

Steve had no interest in punting. Mark loved it. He is married to horse trainer Kim and long ago used to own harness horses with one named Hit Wicket after the day he hit his stumps. Once in a county game on an Ashes tour in England, Mark told Michael Slater not to get out in the first over of the day because he wanted to listen to a trotting race at Harold Park.

Mark Waugh still loves a punt. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Steve was obsessed by photography and has kept thousands of shots at home he took on tour.

Mark, by contrast, didn’t bother taking a camera on tour in the pre-mobile phone era.

Steve was a mad sightseer. He and his mate Robertson used to head off the beaten track and once in India they found some underground caves.

Mark, by contrast, once famously quipped “seen one castle seen ‘em all’’.

As players they were more similar than they were given credit for and there was one general comment which used to rile both of them.

It was this sentence … “Steve is the tough one while Mark got the flair’’.

Mark took umbrage at this and with good reason for while he could occasionally get dismissed in a seemingly nonchalant way his super cool body language made it look as if he didn’t care when he did.

Steve and Mark Waugh celebrating their 36th birthday in the dressing rooms in 2001.

Mark was a deceptively tough player as evidenced by innings like his famous heavy duty century in South Africa when Test great Allan Donald said “he has so much time the ball just never seems to get to him’’.

Steve had a lot of flair as a young player but after being dropped streamlined his game. He once told me about his decision to not play the pull shot – “I could play it if I wanted to but the percentages are not there – go and have a look at the stats for someone who plays it a lot and how often they get out’’.

One common thread between the duo was that because their western Sydney home had a backyard which sloped downwards towards the leg-side, many of the balls they faced in the backyard cut back into them from the off-side and this made them truly exceptional players off their legs.

Both were great fieldsmen with Mark arguably the greatest slips fieldsman Australia has ever had.

Soon after they retired I ran into their father Roger and asked him in what ways were they similar and different.

He replied: “That’s the thing,’’ he said. “There are times I think I am talking to the same person when I speak to them yet on other occasions they are the most different people in the world.”

Australia was lucky to have them.

Originally published as 60 years of Waugh: How cricket’s greatest twins, Steve and Mark, forged their own identities