TIMING is everything for sports- persons, especially cricketers, and Steve Waugh of Australia, who hung his boots at the end of the fourth and final Test against India at his home ground, Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), believed that he had chosen his moment perfectly. Incidentally, it was against India that he made his Test debut as a 20-year-old in 1985-86 at Melbourne.

More than 18 years after making his international debut and despite being agonisingly close to passing country-mate and former skipper Allan Border’s world record for the most Test runs, Steve Waugh has decided to move on, satisfied that he has already achieved everything he wanted. Of course, one last ambition remains unfulfilled, even if he chose not to say so. "Beating India in India,’’ Waugh had been saying for the last few years, "is the last frontier which I want to conquer.’’ Now, not only has he not accomplished that dream but had the misfortune to see the touring Indian cricketers put up such a fantastic performance to draw the four-match Test series at 1-1. It is a great achievement by any touring side, considering the record of all-conquering Australians in the last few years.

But in the end, it can be said without any doubt that he had a more than satisfying career. In fact, he ended his Test career with a fine 80 in his last innings as the Australians drew the Test, chasing 443 to win.

Waugh has probably been the greatest influence in the game of the modern generation. Waugh has been a notch above the rest (including players of the calibre of Warne, Tendulkar, Lara, Muralitharan), because of all that he brought to the game in terms of attitude, leadership and understanding.

Waugh had all the makings of a leader----- a man who thrived in the face of adversity, a man with a heightened presence on the field, and a man with a third eye for those special qualities in players that are not necessarily shown up by statistics. He possessed an unshakeable loyalty to his team-mates and country. It was the perfect example to set a young group of emerging cricketers.

Raised in Sydney’s western suburbs, Steve Waugh made his Test debut in 1985-86 but did not score his first century until his 27th Test match.

Steve was dropped from the side in 1990-91 to allow his twin Mark to make his Test debut and the experience made him a more determined and ultimately better player. He remodeled his game, learning to cope with express pace and adopting a more controlled approach to become one of the more prized wickets of world cricket.

In a career of many heights, some of Waugh’s greatest moments were his 200 against the West Indies in 1995, his twin centuries against England in 1997 and his 120 against South Africa at the 1999 World Cup in England. But his most memorable one was in the final Ashes Test against England in Sydney in January 2003 when he defied his critics with a century to save his Test career.

He has also featured in many high-scoring partnerships; one of 464 with his brother Mark for New South Wales in Perth against Western Australia in 1990-91 and another of 385 with Greg Blewett in the Johannesburg Test against South Africa in 1996-97. Arguably, they were the two most notable partnerships involving Steve Waugh in his illustrious career.

He led Australia to victory in the 1999 World Cup and steered his Test team to a record sequence of 16 consecutive wins before the Indians stopped that streak in Kolkatta a couple of years ago.