Product Description

Rarely does a truly great player reveal as much of himself and his sport as does Steve Waugh in his long awaited autobiography. "Out of my Comfort Zone" is a frank look into a unique life in cricket, a journey into Waugh's life on and off the field. He opens up on his personal life in a way few would expect and reveals the controversies and scandals, the clashes with other players, the media and the cricket administrators. He also offers honest and perceptive portraits of many of the people who have shared his adventure. Many of the photographs included in the book were taken by Waugh, providing a rare peek behind the dressing room door as well as reflecting his passion for travelling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207465 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 802 pages

About the Author
Steve Waugh captained the Australian cricket team from 1999 to 2004 and built a reputation as perhaps the most solid batsman in world cricket. He retired from international cricket at the end of the 2004 Test series between Australia and India

Customer Reviews

Waugh Zone
An in-depth look into the life of the person who lead, in my opinion, the greatest cricket team ever to have played the game. A man who always played his cards very close to his chest, and was able to play mind games better than Jose and Ferguson put together. Finally, we get the chance to see what was going on in the head of one of crickets greats.

Out of My Comfort Zone gives the reader a great interaction into the thinking of the man. The mind games not only with other players, to name but one, Curtley Ambrose in 1995 where we actually find out how he managed to get under the skin of one of the greatest fast bowlers, but also the mind games with himself, and the occasional bought of self doubt that crept into his game. As every cricketer knows, self doubt in a batsman leads to self destruction.

What is also very revealing is the problems that the whole Australian team had with the professional bodies of the game, from the ICC to the ACB, and all the problems of touring and team selection. The difficulty of touring the sub-continent is brought about in stark terms, especially the car bomb in Sri Lanka just before the Aussies arrived for the 95 World Cup. The decision of whether to go ahead with the game in Sri Lanka or not and the conflict this caused is bore out in great detail.

The quality of the book is excellent. To date I have not come across an autobiography which has so much detail in it and is so in-depth in recounting events and scores from the past. A fascinating book which is also excellent rounded off with a chapter from Steve's wife Lynette, who describes life as a cricket widow..... of which much of it my own wife can relate to!!!

An excellent book for any cricket fan.

The original Mr cricket
I've always been a huge fan, and Im an Aussie, so I am biased. His career went for such a long period you tend to forget a lot of his moments. I for one found this to be a very enjoyable read. I would say that I would have loved if he spilt a lot more beans on some of the behind the scenes stuff but then again he wouldn't be the steely-eyed iceman, never allowing a moment of ill-dicipline if he did. He is the type of cricketer, mentally, that anyone that has played cricket would love to be. As anyone who ever talked about cricket would say, "if you ever wanted someone to bat for your life...it would be Steve Waugh" I found many aspects of the book revealing especially his early years in England and his relationship with his wife.

As to the pearls of wisdom that are in there. I think they're dotted all over the place. I know a lot of clubs took sections out of them and placed them around the club house. As ever they're typical Steve, internalised but in a team motivating way.

What is it good for?
Steve Waugh may not have been the most attractive player to watch, but as the sort of man who seemed to get runs when it mattered most (or for that matter, pluck a catch out of nowhere or take a wicket with a magic ball), he is certainly one to be respected and admired. He was probably the best of Australia's modern-era Ashes-winning captains, too. So I was expecting this to be full of sage words about the sport - basically the sort of thing the current England team should be using as bedtime reading. It is, too. Especially marked is the difference in attitude between Aussie sportsmen (and non-sportsmen) and their English counterparts. It's a good read. I'd say that this was only marred by three things: a strange reticence about his relationship with his twin brother Mark, the book's extreme length and a tendency towards the end to the sort of self-justification that all too often mars a sporting career.