Associated Press

Sydney, January 1

Australian skipper Stephen Waugh says the high-pressure, series-deciding match against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground is the ideal scenario for the last match of his record 168-test career.

His counterpart Sourav Ganguly said while the time and the place were fitting for Waugh’s international finale, he hoped the fourth test, starting on Friday, would be remembered for an upset Indian series win rather than another Australian triumph.

World No 1 Australia leveled the series 1-1 with a nine-wicket win in Melbourne earlier this week to ensure Waugh had a chance of retaining his perfect record in test series at home since he replaced Mark Taylor as captain in 1999.

“You want pressure, you want the occasion,” said Waugh, the most successful test captain ever with 41 victories from 56 tests.

“The best teams and the best players lift for the big occasion and the more at stake and the more that’s on the game, the better I think we play.”

Ganguly said Waugh always played to win, so the only irregular element in the dynamic of the Sydney test is the fact it will be the end of an era for Australian cricket.

“I don’t think the attitude is going to be different because it’s (Waugh’s) last game,” he said. “I’m very happy for Steve that he’s going the way he wanted, but from our point of view it’s a test match and we need to win.

“We respect a great cricketer . . . we respect his contribution and we wish him good luck but we everybody has to go some day.”

Waugh’s uncompromising and unrelenting character has made a hero Down Under, where some of his match-saving innings have entered folklore.

The 38-year-old right-hander is already the most-capped test cricketer of all time. He needs an improbable 368 runs in Sydney to overhaul his former skipper Allan Border (11,174) as the most prolific test runscorer.

He took a while to get the runs flowing, needing 25 matches after his debut against India in December 1985 to score the first of his 32 test centuries.

Waugh says he’s learned enough in two decades to be prepared for the danger India poses in Sydney.

Ganguly’s squad rallied for a 2-1 series win in India in 2001 after being outclassed in the first test in Mumbai and then forced to follow-on in the second at Kolkata before producing a shocking upset to grab the ascendancy in the series.

Waugh has said his only regret as a test cricketer was not winning a series in India. His other cricket regret was failing to the make the tri-series limited-overs finals series in 2001 and subsequently ending his one-day career on a losing note.

Australia was expected to recall paceman Jason Gillespie, who missed the third test with a groin strain, to partner Brett Lee with the new ball and drop either Nathan Bracken or Brad Williams from the starting 11.

Lee missed the first two tests with an ankle problem and Ganguly said the Australians would be taking a risk by playing both fast bowlers as they recovered from injuries.

Waugh said his home ground was the perfect place to end his career - because no ground in the world had an atmosphere like a full Sydney Cricket Ground - and his team would be at full fitness.