Waugh set for record Test
When Steve Waugh was debating whether to retire from Test cricket or not, many different thoughts and memories must have crossed his mind.

But one of the factors in his decision to carry on surely had to be that he was one Test short of beating Allan Border's world record.

Although the success of the team Australian team is Waugh's primary concern, by playing against the West Indies in Guyana he will set a new record of 157 Test appearances.

Only England's Alec Stewart is anywhere near him on 126 Tests, but it is unlikely he will catch Waugh as he is two years older.

It is amazing how Waugh's Test fortunes - and Australia's - have turned around during his career.

He made his debut at the age of 20 against India in 1985 when the Australian team was struggling as a cricketing nation.

Waugh had only made his first-class debut for New South Wales a year earlier and looked to be a random straw clutched by the increasingly desperate Aussie selectors.

The gamble did not pay dividends immediately.

But his gritty determination to stick it out when the going was bad proved to be the first of many challenges Waugh faced, tackled and defeated on his way to becoming one of the game's genuine greats.

It took him four years and 26 Tests to score his first century.

Unsurprisingly that came against old foes England when he flourished as a batsman on the 1989 Ashes tour.

There have been lapses in form since then, but with the critics gathering, he has often answered them with a ton.

Waugh was considered too raw to succeed Allan Border as captain, but once Mark Taylor retired in 1999 he was the obvious candidate to take over.

And he would become Australia's most successful Test skipper, winning 33 of his 45 Tests in charge.

Cynics might suggest that today's Aussies could captain themselves, but such a notion undermines Waugh's ability.

With an army of greats under him Waugh revolutionised the way Test cricket was played, increasing the game's tempo and using his own players' strengths to ruthlessly expose the weaknesses of opponents.

He has never been afraid of employing new training techniques or trying out new diets in the hope of gaining an extra edge.

His competitive streak means he probably remembers Australia's defeat in India in 2001 as clearly as his many accomplishments.

The chance to avenge that setback is some distance off and it may be the road back to the sub-contintent is too long for Waugh.

But for now, his amazing career continues, with the Baggy Green cap dominating cricket in both forms of the game.

His own one-day career seems at an end, so Waugh is free to focus all his energies on Tests.

And notching up a world record seems as good as reason to carry on as any. (BBC)