‘Top six players didn’t wear helmets’: Steve Waugh reveals unique strategy Australia employed during 1996 Ashes
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh recalled the historic 1989 Ashes win against England, which was the first time a touring Australian team had won the series in England since 1964.
The 1989 Ashes Test series in England was a memorable one for Allan Border-led Australian team. It was the first time that a travelling Australian side had won an Ashes series in England since 1964. It was a breakout series for batsman Steve Waugh, who had smashed 506 runs in 6 innings in the tour at an average of 126.50.
Waugh, who later went on to become one of the most successful Australia captains across all formats, revealed a bold strategy that worked for Australia batsmen during the 1989 Ashes tour.
Despite England bowling attack comprising of fast bowlers such as Neil Foster and Angus Fraser, and pitch in the country expected to suit the pacers, Aussie top-order decided to not wear helmets while batting as much as possible.
“It might not have been mentioned, but the top six players didn’t wear helmets on that tour,” Waugh revealed on the Road to the Ashes podcast, as quoted by Fox Sports.
“That was a bit of a collective decision by the batsmen to say: ‘hang on, we’re up for this contest, we don’t need a helmet, we’re going to take the English attack on," he further added.
“I look back and it was a pretty brave and bold move and something that maybe has been overlooked. But that was mentality we took in that we were going to take England on," he further said.
Waugh, who has scored 177* in the first Test of the series, further added that the win in the 1st game was a "fluke".
“The first Test match was a bit of a fluke really,” Waugh said.
“We were used to losing a lot, so we were happy to draw the Test match, so Allan batted on until just before lunch on the fifth day before we declared, so that was a sign that, firstly, we didn’t want to lose the Test match but, secondly, it was a bit of a bonus if we were going to take some wickets.
“I think we got one before lunch and Merv (Hughes) bowled really well and Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson, and all of a sudden it started to happen in the middle session and we had this incredible unexpected win against the odds and that gave us enormous belief that we could actually beat England, we could compete and we could do things we didn’t really believe we could do.
“So the first one was by accident and once we got our nose in front, we really started to believe," he signed off.
