Australian captain Steve Waugh today survived his first game of the season and looked forward to a competitive opening Test against New Zealand starting later this week.

Back in action after a torn calf and a bout of deep vein thrombosis, Waugh had good batting and fielding work-outs playing for Bankstown against Fairfield-Liverpool in a two-day Sydney grade game.

He scored 84 in 163 minutes yesterday and spent most of today fielding in the gully after being checked out this morning by Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott.

Waugh stretched at regular intervals and dropped one hot chance in the gully. While Bankstown batted a second time after getting first innings points, the match ended before Waugh could get a second hit.

He pronounced himself happy with his fitness though he experienced some stiffness and soreness after yesterday's endeavours.

"I saw Errol (Alcott) this morning and he came down and we had a bit of a work-over and it feels good," Waugh said.

"I was a little bit stiff and sore but that was to be expected, so I'm happy with the way it (the calf) went through the game."

The one thing Waugh didn't do during the game was bowl and he said he thought it would be "a while" before Alcott would allow him to do that.

"But I will be back at the crease at some stage," Waugh said.

Waugh said it was good to get a game on an excellent Bankstown Oval wicket and he was now looking forward to a summer featuring home Tests and one-day matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

"They are going to be good competition, it's going to be a good Test match," Waugh said of the Kiwis.

Before rejoining the international treadmill tomorrow when he will meet up with his Australian team-mates, Waugh was looking forward to celebrating his son's second birthday tonight.

Paceman Brett Lee, the other Australian player having a Sydney grade hit-out this weekend, bowled seven overs today as his Mosman team completed an outright victory over Hawkesbury.

Lee, who only recently returned from injury, finished with 1-23 today and with match figures of 3-68 off 19 overs.

Yesterday, Waugh said the wicket was very flat and good for batting and gave himself an "eight or nine" out of 10 as he felt he didn't do a lot wrong.

"The first hour or so, I was just trying to get a bit of match practice. I've been in the nets but obviously haven't played for a while, so it was nice to spend some time in the middle," Waugh said.

"After that, I thought I hit the ball pretty well, so I couldn't really be much happier."

"You're always a bit apprehensive when you come back after a long layoff but it felt really good. There was no sign of anything untoward and I was very happy with the way it went.

"I've done a fair bit of running in the past two weeks so I felt confident it would be okay, but you never really know until you get out there."

© 2001 AAP