BBC SPORT | Cricket | The Ashes | Waugh's peak gets a lift

Steve Waugh's baggy green cap, worn proudly by the Aussie captain for 17 years, has been given a new lease of life.

After 152 Tests, the cap has finally undergone remedial surgery so its owner can continue the association in the final phase of his career.

Waugh has clung onto it with with the obduracy of one of his signature innings since his debut against India in 1985.

Capping Waugh's career

In recent years it has become so tatty as to resemble something that the cat dragged in.

But with a new peak proudly on display, the sport's most famous love affair between cricketer and cloth can continue unfettered.

Steve Waugh
Waugh's baggy green has seen blood, sweat and beer

Waugh, an ice cool tactician on the field, is a character not normally given to sentiment.

But when it comes to his baggy green he is like an infant with a security blanket.

Waugh's cap has come in for criticism from Neil Harvey, a member of Don Bradman's 1948 Invincibles side.

"It looks bloody terrible, it really does. He needs to get another one," said Harvey, a serial critic of anyone who compares Waugh's side with Bradman's.

Memories

Typically, Waugh shook off the comments.

"To me it's special," he said.

"You're not going to throw it away just because it doesn't look good. You've got memories there and that's what is special to me.

"I'll continue to wear it as long as I think it's in a reasonable state.

"To be truthful, it really is no-one else's business."

It could be said that, like his baggy green cap, Waugh is showing signs of fraying after almost two decades of battle.

But with more than 9,753 Test runs behind him, and 7,500 in one-day internationals to his credit, you can only take your hat off to him.