da dobrowin： Australian captain Steve Waugh said his players don’t want to commit oneof sport’s greatest
AAP07-May-2003Australian captain Steve Waugh said his players don’t want to commit oneof sport’s greatest “sins” by letting their winning streak end inAntigua on Friday.Australia will start short-priced favourites to win the final Testagainst the West Indies despite their relatively poor record indead-rubber matches in recent seasons.Australia’s most recent losses came in the final matches against SouthAfrica in Durban last year and against England in Sydney in January.But Waugh doesn’t expect his players to lose focus at St John’s as theystrive for the first clean sweep by a touring team in the Caribbean.”The greatest sin for any sportsman is to waste good form and we don’twant to do that,” Waugh said.”I’ve got great respect for West Indies cricket. They taught us a lotabout where we are now.”When I first played against the West Indies back in ’85 they were thedominating force and we learned a lot about West Indies cricket so I’vealways had respect and admiration for them.”But, at the moment, we’re on top and you’ve got to make the most of itbecause you never know how long it’s going to last and right now we’replaying good cricket.”The Australians arrived in Antigua today after yesterday’s nine-wicketvictory in the third Test in Bridgetown.The players will be allowed time to rest before the final match becauseof the short three-day break, which followed a long haul in the fieldfor the tourists.With Waugh making the Windies follow-on at Kensington Oval, Australiabowled 244 consecutive overs to leave doubts over how the bowlers wouldbounce back at St John’s.But selectors were expected to stick with the combination of fourpacemen and leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, who prevented the Windies fromholding on for a draw in the third Test.”We’ve always got to assess what’s going on and how the bowlers pullup,” Waugh said.”Brett Lee’s got a couple of stitches in his hand so we’ll have a lookat that.”But I’m not sure – I haven’t seen the pitch in Antigua – but I hopethere’s a bit more life to it.”