My first Shield game with Steve and Mark Waugh

The very busy schedule of the test players meant we didn’t get to see a lot of them, but it was great for us young blokes when we did get access to them. Their knowledge and experience was invaluable and I soaked it up. Because of their commitments against touring Pakistani and Indian teams, I didn’t get to play with the Waugh twins until our fifth Shield match of the season. We were at the WACA having a hit a couple of days before the game when Steve Waugh bowled me a bouncer. I ducked, thinking, What’s going on?? Is it some kind of softening-up ritual? He bowled me another one. Okay, I was getting rattled now. We’d hardly spoken, but had I done something to annoy him somehow? Did he just not like me? Then he sent down another bouncer. I moved from wondering if he was cranky to getting fired up myself. Tugga, as he was known to us, was the captain of the Australian team, an amazing cricketer we all looked up to. But in that moment I thought, Steve Waugh or not, if he does that again I’m going to hit him out of the net. Sure enough, the next ball was another bouncer and sure enough I hit it out. He gave me a satisfied nod and said, “I heard you had a good pull shot; I just wanted to check it.”

The above are extracts from Brad Haddin book "My Family’s Keeper" and published with approval. You can purchase the books through Harper Collings Publishing

Click to buy - https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781 *** ***/my-familys-keeper/