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Updated May 15th, 2021 at 16:25 IST

Steve Waugh recalls 1989 Ashes, lauds Aus batsmen's 'brave and bold move' for THIS reason

Former Aus skipper Steve Waugh has revealed the reason behind Australian batsmen not wearing helmets during the 1989 Ashes series against arch-rivals England

Reported by: Karthik Nair
Image Courtesy: AP
Image Courtesy: AP | Image:self
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Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh has gone back in time to reveal the exact reason behind one of Aussies' on-field approach against arch-rivals England during the 1989 Ashes series. 32 years later, Waugh has decided to share an interesting anecdote from that memorable Test series as he opened up on why the batsmen of his team did not wear helmets in that particular series.

'It was a pretty brave and bold move': Steve Waugh

“It might not have been mentioned, but the top six players didn’t wear helmets on that tour. 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,”  said Waugh while interacting on the Road to the Ashes podcast, as quoted by Fox Sports.

“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,” the 1999 World Cup-winning skipper added.

The 1989 Ashes series

A spirited Australian team led by Allan Border had toured England for six Test matches between 8 June to 29 August 1989. The visitors won the series 4-0 and by the virtue of this win, Border & Co. won the Ashes for the first time since 1982-83, and the first time in England since 1964. 

Steve Waugh was the second-highest run-scorer for Australia and the third-highest run-getter in the series with 506 runs to his name after his younger brother Mark Waugh (839) & Englishman Robin Smith (553) respectively.

Coming back to the Ashes, the next edition of the iconic series will be contested in Australia, and as per reports the first Test gets underway on December 9 with the fifth and final Test being played on January 14. The Aussies successfully retained the urn after drawing the five-match away Test series against England 2-2 in 2019. 

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Published May 15th, 2021 at 16:25 IST

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