Today's players don't share hotel rooms, so that poses few problems. In the past two years, the ACB has arranged creche care for the children of players while their partners attend Test matches, anywhere in the country. Now, that has been entrenched in the ACB-ACA agreement. This year's England tour, for which the members of the one-day team depart on May 26, will be like no other. Under the agreement, players on tour for 50 days or more qualify for their families to join them for two weeks with airfares and accommodation paid.
Families are welcome at any other time on tour, but at the player's cost.
In England, too, the ACB will arrange creche facilities. Waugh has shown himself to have a mind for the game's broader concepts. Typically, he has been a driving force behind the family-based initiatives. Such workplace concessions are not often easily won, but the ACB was a willing participant in advancing the cause of its employees. Waugh is a man motivated by his care for the people around him, but he can also present the pragmatist's case.