Waugh seeks enjoyment from new employment

Steve Waugh returned to county cricket yesterday 14 years after his last appearance determined to put a troubled 12 months behind him and in the process help Kent, who are second in the Championship and third in the Norwich Union League, to win something.

Waugh, 37, said: "For various reasons last year was not as enjoyable as I would have liked." It is a year that saw him suffer from a deep-vein thrombosis after the Ashes series in England last season, entailing six weeks of recuperation; he was then stripped of the Australian one-day international captaincy and dropped from the side after 325 limited-overs international appearances.

"It was a difficult time in some ways," Waugh added. "It was a culmination of things off the field. In life there are always issues. I suffered the DVT, I had the baggage of dropping Justin Langer and Michael Slater when I was a selector, which was not easy. And things just did not quite work out for me on the field. I just felt I did not enjoy cricket quite as much as I should."

His concern about on-field matters centres on his lack of runs. For so prolific a batsman, with 9,600 Test runs, including 27 hundreds, at an impressive average of 50, his last nine outings since his hundred against England at The Oval have produced 314 runs at 24.00.

"My goal, beginning with Kent, is to go out there and enjoy my cricket once more. I want to see the beauty in the game again, see the little things that were the reasons I took it up in the backyard aged six or seven. Sometimes all that can be lost in the professionalism in the game, the money you are earning, the pressure you are under."

Hence the return to a ground of which he harbours fond memories. In 1988, when he played for Somerset, he scored his Championship best 161 at the St Lawrence Ground. He added: "I love the tree on this ground. I have scored a couple of hundreds here, one for Somerset and one in a tour match. It is great to play here."

This time around he is looking to add a hardened edge to Kent's Championship campaign. Waugh, who will be named today as Australia's captain for the three-Test series against Pakistan next month, could play in five Norwich Union League games and the four remaining Championship matches; a maximum of 21 days' cricket for which he is expected to earn around £15,000.

Waugh said: "I have not played for five or six months and I want to score some runs as a lead-up to the Pakistan series. Kent still have a chance of winning the County Championship and the one-day league. I want to do well."