Praising the ICC for starting the World Test Championship, former Australian captain Steve Waugh said wished if the ICC World Test Championship was around when he was playing.

"I captained an Australia team that won 16 Tests in a row between 1999 and 2001.  It was a fantastic achievement by a bunch of men that I was very proud to call my teammates. I just wish that the ICC World Test Championship had been around in my day," he wrote in his column in www.icc-cricket.com.

"Back in 2001 when they were on our run, we just assumed we were the No.1 side in the world and everyone said that we were, but there was no actual proof. We would have loved a finale, a chance to hold a trophy aloft and have that recognition," he wrote.

Terming the championship to be great for the global game, he said, "We have it in T20 cricket and in 50-over cricket so why not in Test cricket as well? I think it is well overdue. Test cricket is still the pinnacle for me. And I would assume that it is for almost every modern professional cricketer as well. I want it to remain on top and for that to be the case, it needs to retain relevance."

"We keep saying we want Test cricket to be the No.1 game in the world but until you recognise that and give it some prominence, it doesn’t make it real. Now we have officially introduced it and I can’t wait for it to get started, I am excited but, as I said, also a little bit jealous that I will never get to hold that trophy high," he wrote in his column.

"It is not about money or fame anything like that. It is about recognition, about being able to say that you are the No.1 Test side in the world.  That is something that very few players have been able to do or say. That would be a real feather in the cap for the captain, the coach, and the whole country," he added.