Australia's Test captain Steve Waugh has revealed he will make a decision on his future in the role following the completion of this year's Ashes series. Speculation is rife that the penultimate test on St Stephen's Day in Melbourne and the New Year Test in Sydney will be his last.
However, the 37-year-old is adamant that he will make no decision until after the Ashes series. "I've never asked for a guarantee (about my place) and nor did I want a guarantee. I've always played my cricket on the belief that you pick the best XI players and that's never changed. The next two Tests are about an Australian side playing an Ashes series, they're not about me personally and what I'm going to do - I would like to think the focus would be on the cricket rather than speculation about myself," he explained.
"I don't expect any favours if I'm not scoring runs - my job is to play well for Australia and I'm looking forward to doing that. People can't score runs for me, I have to do that. I don't want any sympathy or people feeling sorry for me because it's a tough sport. I'm pretty relaxed about it and I'm going to go out there and enjoy it," he added.
Meanwhile, Australia have called up Queensland batsman Martin Love as cover for Darren Lehmann for the fourth Test in two days' time. Lehmann is suffering from an acute infection in his right leg and has been admitted to hospital but is expected to be discharged on Christmas Day.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
