Waugh grimly determined to direct another Ashes triumph

Australia's captain must rediscover his form to stay in the team to face England this winter

Steve Waugh is clinging to the captaincy of Australia as though it was his wicket. He is digging in, preparing to repel boarders, refusing to surrender lightly. It is not necessarily a pretty sight but it is a grim and compelling struggle. Waugh is beleaguered because he is 37 years old and in the last home summer mislaid his form.

When England begin this winter's Ashes series in November, it is just possible that Nasser Hussain will be watching a new Australian captain flip the coin. If Waugh is sacked as captain there will be no room for him as a player; one of the greatest of modern careers, not to mention a captaincy which brought an unprecedented run of success, is on the line.

The crucial period is imminent. Waugh arrived in Sri Lanka this week to prepare for Australia's Test series against Pakistan. One of the matches is being played in Colombo and two in Sharjah, because of the unrest in Pakistan. Personal failure is not an option.

"For the last 17 years I've been playing for my place," said Waugh. "That's why it's a professional sport because there's nobody guaranteed. But I don't see I'm under any more pressure than any other captain or any other player. You don't expect a free ride."

That was Waugh the batsman talking, unyielding, steely-eyed. If there is pressure, he has embraced it since he made his Australia debut in 1986. He is probably closer to pressure than he is to his twin brother, Mark.

The younger by 10 minutes and therefore known as Junior, Mark is under similar scrutiny. Steve has been jettisoned from the one-day side after Australia failed to make the final of their own triangular tournament last winter. Ricky Ponting, who was installed as one-day captain, is doing a good job, and it does not take smart money to indicate what could happen next.

It is possible to sense that Waugh knows what is at stake but will not concede it. That would be a weakness and anybody who has seen him bat knows that displaying signs of frailty is not part of his creed.

Rather than speak of an international retirement that may be forced on him, Waugh is still adamant that he wants back his place in the one-day team. This may be a prime example of whistling against the wind in cloud-cuckoo land but Waugh still insists it can be done – and who knows? After Australia's collapse yesterday he may be whistling in the right direction.

"Nothing's changed, I've said all along I want to give myself the best chance of being picked. Anything's possible. Pete Sampras won the US Open, didn't he." Yeah, and tell that to the Australian selectors, a group of men whom custom dictates must agree to have their sentimental veins removed and their noses hardened on appointment.

Waugh's immediate problem, one he has not known for at least a decade, is a lack of runs. If he lost the one-day captaincy largely because the team lost, the Test side was as powerful as ever.

They were given a mild fright by New Zealand in a three-match rubber which finished 0-0 but then steamrollered South Africa in what was supposed to be a world championship decider and was a one-sided embarrassment. But Australia's captain was suffering. In the nine Tests he made 314 runs at a measly average of 24. The selectors were watching.

"I'd rather bring runs to the table," said Waugh. "I hope I've contributed in other ways besides runs but I think runs is why you get picked. We've never picked a captain for his captaincy alone, you pick them because they're worth a place in the side and that's the position I want to be in. I've done well over the last 10 years and had one off-season last year. I don't think there's too many players in world cricket who've done that. Sure my form wasn't great but I know I can bounce back." Waugh does not do desperate. It is not in his rock-steady demeanour. But that was as close as it got.

There were probably other reasons for his form, though he would never mention them. In the 2001 summer when the Aussies gave England a mauling so dreadful that you wanted an early finish to spare further suffering, Waugh sustained a calf injury in the Third Test and missed the Fourth. Intensive treatment meant he was back for the Fifth. Waugh made a typically intractable 157 not out, even though he spent much of the innings limping and then fielded throughout England's two innings, a total of some 187 overs. It was undoubtedly courageous and it was probably foolish. Back home he suffered deep vein thrombosis and needed surgery.

He refuses to be drawn on retirement. Could it be, if he makes it that far, after the Ashes? "It's a possibility," he said admitting that time has flown. "But I want to keep playing as long as I enjoy it, so long as I'm improving. Other factors probably come into it but I don't want to put a date on it because when you do that you wind down and play accordingly."

Make no mistake, for the Ashes Australia will want the man who has led them in 37 Tests and had an epic winning trot of 16. Perhaps they have stumbled across a great truth, that in the modern cricketing calendar a country needs separate captains.

Waugh has appeared in the seven consecutive winning Ashes campaigns (it is of small comfort that he made his debut in the last losing one, to Mike Gatting's team in 1986). Without him, England might sense an opportunity. Equally, Australia will not hesitate if they think Ponting is ready – and he is. "I'd like to be captain, but Steve's the captain, the boss of Australian cricket," said the likely heir.

Waugh would like to choose his own time and terms but he is not a fanciful man. "There aren't too many Cinderella stories in sport," he said. It would be delightful if the old warrior could see the winter out. It would be terrible for England.