South Africa are my favourites: Steve Waugh
ABU DHABI: Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has some interesting takes on the World Cup. First, he thinks that South Africa will win the mega event, simply because nobody believes that they can. And secondly, its fielding which will play the biggest role in determining the winners.
"South Africa are my favourites for the title, simply because nobody thinks that they can go that far. That takes a lot of load off them. They are a good side and I believe they have a great chance to win the title," said Waugh, who was here in connection with the Laureus World Sports awards.
Waugh, famous for his ice-cool attitude on the field during his captaincy days, picks Indian captain MS Dhoni as the one with similar attributes in modern day cricket. "He is a calm guy. It's not easy to hold your nerve when 90,000-odd people are shouting at the top of their voices."
Waugh also said Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara and West Indies' Darren Sammy have impressed him with their leadership qualities. "I am particularly impressed with Sammy. I think he has the potential to take West Indies back to their glorious days."
Referring to his home country, Waugh said the Australians would be happy to be not being tagged as favourites, for the first time after a long time. "Not being the favourites is a good thing for them. But they are doing well in One-dayers and have won the series against England quite comfortably. People are not talking about them at the moment, but they will soon once they land in the sub-continent. Don't forget that Ricky Ponting has a phenomenal record as a captain. He has won the World Cup twice. More importantly he knows how to win."
Waugh said he felt sorry for promising bowler Mohammad Aamer who has been banned by the International Cricket Council along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif for their role in a spot-fixing scandal. "I feel sorry for Aamer as he's a young kid. But I am happy the way ICC acted. I hope he takes the sentence positively and learns from it."
"South Africa are my favourites for the title, simply because nobody thinks that they can go that far. That takes a lot of load off them. They are a good side and I believe they have a great chance to win the title," said Waugh, who was here in connection with the Laureus World Sports awards.
Waugh, famous for his ice-cool attitude on the field during his captaincy days, picks Indian captain MS Dhoni as the one with similar attributes in modern day cricket. "He is a calm guy. It's not easy to hold your nerve when 90,000-odd people are shouting at the top of their voices."
Waugh also said Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara and West Indies' Darren Sammy have impressed him with their leadership qualities. "I am particularly impressed with Sammy. I think he has the potential to take West Indies back to their glorious days."
Referring to his home country, Waugh said the Australians would be happy to be not being tagged as favourites, for the first time after a long time. "Not being the favourites is a good thing for them. But they are doing well in One-dayers and have won the series against England quite comfortably. People are not talking about them at the moment, but they will soon once they land in the sub-continent. Don't forget that Ricky Ponting has a phenomenal record as a captain. He has won the World Cup twice. More importantly he knows how to win."
Waugh said he felt sorry for promising bowler Mohammad Aamer who has been banned by the International Cricket Council along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif for their role in a spot-fixing scandal. "I feel sorry for Aamer as he's a young kid. But I am happy the way ICC acted. I hope he takes the sentence positively and learns from it."
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