23 Facts about Mark Waugh: The flamboyant half of the Waugh brothers

Mark Waugh is one-half of cricket’s most celebrated twins – The Waugh brothers. But, he was a completely different personality from his older sibling Steve Waugh. He played with more dash and flamboyance. His stroke making looked smooth and was often called as lazy elegance. He was an important element of the Australian team of the 90’s. His all-round capabilities made him a complete asset. He could bat in the top order and then come back and snap important wicket with his medium pacers and off-breaks. he sometimes faced criticism for his casual approach while batting and fielding. But, the typical Aussie spirit was always there in him.

1. Born on:

Mark Edward Waugh was born on June 2, 1965 in the suburb of Canterbury, Sydney.

2. Youngest of the two twins:

Mark has an identical twin brother Steve. The twins were born four minutes apart from each other with Mark being the late arrival.

3. Early years and family background:

He along with his elder brother were raised in Bankstown, a lower middle-class suburb located near the banks of the Georges river in Sydney. Their father Rodger Waugh was a bank official and his mother Beverly Waugh was a teacher within the New South Wales Department of Education. Both went to the East Hill Boys School in Panania. The twins later progressed to East Hills Boys Technology High School, which had a history of producing Australian international representatives in a number of sports.

4. A sporting family:

Sports were very much a part of their lives growing up. Their mother Beverly was the South Australian under 14 women’s singles tennis champion and their father Rodger was a huge Tennis fan and he often hit balls with Aussie tennis legends like Tony Roche. Their paternal grandfather Edward was a greyhound trainer and was a part of the New South Wales Country team in rugby league.

5. Inclined towards sports from a young age:

From an early age, Mark and Steve were introduced to sports. By the age of six, the twins were playing soccer, tennis and cricket.

6. Always the best dressed:

According to their mother who was a working woman it used to get pretty difficult to manage work and raise the four kids at the same time. So the best dressed of the four brothers would always be the one who was up from bed the earliest and Mark was the one who always rose first.

7. Young achievers:

In 1976, the twins were the youngest ever to be selected in the New South Wales Primary Schools’ soccer team.

8. Overcomes stress disorder:

Mark was diagnosed with the repetitive stress injury Osgood-Schlatter disease at the age of 15 and was told that he would not grow any further than his then height of 152 cm. But, It was a huge relief for him and his family after he grew a foot in a year by the time he turned 16.

9. Mum’s support:

The Waugh twins were immensely supported by their mother. The single mom extremely difficult to meet their expenses and especially meet the expenses to buy all the cricket gear. But she knew that the kids had some rare cricketing talent in them it was with that confidence that she started approaching sponsors and sports shops for sponsorships and price concessions.

10. The quite unassuming kids:

Mark always looked more mischievous than his older sibling Steve who looked innocent. But, both brothers, however, were completely contrasting characters. Steve would always have more fun as a kid while Mark preferred to be quiet. Mark, in fact, was often scared by little things like a street dog or a ride on the merry go round. There is this famous story told by his mother in numerous magazines about how at an amusement park a 6-year-old Mark had climbed up a cliff and stood there clueless and petrified.

11. First class debut:

Mark Taylor and his Steve made their debut in the same match against Tasmania at Hobart’s TCA Ground. New South Wales. Both opened together the innings.

12. Waugh Brothers Own WACA:

In 1990, Waugh and his brother combined in an unbeaten partnership of 464 in 407 minutes for NSW against Western Australia (WA) at the WACA Ground, setting a world first-class record for the fifth wicket. Both teams were at full strength and WA’s attack included Test bowlers Terry Alderman, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews. The twins ended unbeaten with 216 and 229 respectively.

13. Test debut:

Unlike his older brother, Steve, Mark had to toil hard at the domestic level to earn his Test debut. He was very inconsistent at the start of his career.  At the age of 25, he was finally picked for his Test debut in 1990–91. But, it was a moment of mixed emotions for him his place in the team came at the expense of his out-of-form brother.

14. The next Archie Jackson:

Following his Test debut, Australian coach Bob Simpson compared Waugh’s elegance to that of Archie Jackson. Mark Taylor called Waugh the “best-looking leg-side player I’ve seen in my time. . . . Anything drifting into his pads is hit beautifully.

15. The blood spilled 1991 tour of West Indies:

The 1991 tour of the West Indies was perhaps Mark’s most memorable tour. West Indies, known for their physically intimidating fast bowlers were considered world’s most powerful team at that time and Australia had not won a Test series in the Caribbean for 18 years against. The Australians lost the blood spilled Test series eventually but Waugh ended the with 367 runs at 61.17, the best among the Australians.

16. Nickname:

Mark is called Junior because he is younger to Stephen. He is also called “Hollywood” by Shane Warne for his flamboyant and good looks.

17. A horse racing fans:

Mark loves horse racing and gambling. He owns quite a few horses along with his buddy Ricky Ponting and both of them are regulars at the races.

18. The forgotten:

During the early stages of his career, mark lived in the shadow of his brother Steve, who had already made his debut for Australia team at the age of 20. Therefore, Mark was sometimes called Afghan, a reference to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and was also sometimes dubbed the “forgotten war” by his teammates.

19. Other achievements:

Waugh was also a part of the limited overs team that won a silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, losing the final to South Africa. The matches were not accredited by the ICC as ODIs.

20. Bribery charges:

During the 1998/99 Ashes tour, news broke that in 1994–95 Waugh and Shane Warne had accepted money from an Indian bookmaker in exchange for pitch and weather information. The Australian Cricket Board has secretly fined both players for their actions. The ACB’s suppression of the case and the actions of the two players were widely condemned.

21. Retires as one of Australia’s best:

Waugh retired as Australia’s highest run-scorer and century-maker (18) in ODI cricket, these records have since been broken by Ricky Ponting. Waugh took a record 181 catches in Test matches, the second highest for a nonwicket-keeper.  His record stood untouched until it was broken by India’s Rahul Dravid in 2009.

22. Life post-retirement:

In 2002, he did a brief stint as Channel Nine Cricket commentator during the 3 -match Australia-Pakistan ODI series. He works as a sports journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald and is a Channel Ten cricket commentator and formerly a Fox Sports commentator.

23. Personal Life:

Mark married Sydney Cup-winning thoroughbred trainer Kim Waugh (née Moore) on 9 April 2005.