In February 1999 Mark Taylor retired and Steve Waugh became Australia's Test captain. His first series — the Caribbean tour — was a 2-2 dramatic draw featuring Brian Lara's 213 and 153 not out. From there Waugh built the most dominant Test team in cricket history, including a record 16 consecutive Test wins.
Steve Waugh had been a senior figure in the Australian team since the late 1980s. His Test averages had risen from the mid-30s in the late 1980s to over 50 by 1995. The 1998-99 ODI captaincy was his trial run.
Mark Taylor retired on February 2, 1999. The selectors named Steve Waugh as Test captain immediately. Australia toured the West Indies for a four-Test series starting in early March.
Mark Taylor announced his retirement on February 2, 1999, after the Pakistan series. Steve Waugh — who had been ODI captain since 1997-98 and Test vice-captain — was the obvious successor at age 33. His first Test series was the Frank Worrell Trophy in the Caribbean. Australia won the first Test by 312 runs at Trinidad. Brian Lara responded with 213 at Sabina Park (West Indies won by 10 wickets) and a masterful unbeaten 153 at Bridgetown to win by one wicket — possibly the greatest fourth-innings hundred in Test history. Australia won the fourth Test in Antigua to draw the series 2-2. The campaign showed both Australia's dominance and Lara's individual brilliance. Within six months Waugh would lead Australia to the 1999 World Cup. Within a year Australia were the world's number one team. By the end of 2001 they had won 16 consecutive Test matches.
February 2, 1999: Mark Taylor retires
Steve Waugh named Test captain
1st Test Trinidad: Australia win by 312 runs
2nd Test Sabina Park: Lara 213; West Indies win by 10 wickets
3rd Test Bridgetown: Lara 153*; West Indies win by 1 wicket
4th Test Antigua: Australia draw the series 2-2
1997-98
Steve Waugh becomes Australia's ODI captain.
February 2, 1999
Mark Taylor retires; Waugh named Test captain.
March-April 1999
First Test series as captain — drawn 2-2 in Caribbean.
June 1999
Waugh leads Australia to ODI World Cup victory at Lord's.
1999-2001
16 consecutive Test wins — a world record.
“I'd been waiting for this for years. The job was to keep the team going at its best.”
“Stephen was the best captain Australia has ever had. The toughness was contagious.”
Waugh captained Australia in 57 Tests, winning 41 and losing only nine. He set the record of 16 consecutive Test wins (twice — 1999-2001 and 2005-2008 under Ricky Ponting). He retired in January 2004 with 168 Tests, then a record. Under his captaincy Australia became the most dominant Test team in history.
The captaincy that defined cricket's first decade of the 21st century. Steve Waugh's appointment in 1999 began Australia's longest spell of dominance.
The Steve Waugh era — 1999-2004 — is the benchmark of modern Test captaincy. The relentless aggression, the back-up of senior players, the team's mental toughness, all became modern coaching staples. Waugh himself became Australian of the Year and a permanent national figure.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.