With a streak of 12 Test wins that may well be 13 by the time the Australian cricketers reach Melbourne, Steve Waugh doesn't need much motivation to recover from injury in time to play against the West Indies in the fourth Test starting at the MCG on Boxing Day.

But the Australian captain has revealed that he has been inspired by a seriously ill nine-year-old Victorian boy, Mathew Dean, whom he met at a charity function in Melbourne several weeks ago.

Waugh said yesterday that Mathew, who suffers from fluid on the brain, had been such an inspiration to him that he wouldn't let his own medical condition (a buttock injury) keep him out of the third Test in Adelaide. He vowed to play in Melbourne "if only to give the kid the boost he deserves".

Already his decision has had a great effect on Mathew. Last night his mother, Sue O'Connor, told The Age that when she told him on Wednesday night what his hero had said, her son's eyes lit up and by yesterday morning he looked "the best we have seen him in ages".

Mathew, who suffered a brain haemorrhage after being born 12 weeks' premature, has undergone 40 operations and spent most of his life in hospital, including nine of the past 12 months.

Waugh met the youngster when he presented a cheque at a Starlight Room function. He was so impressed with his spirit and courage that he invited Mathew to spend a day in the New South Wales dressing rooms during a one-day match against Victoria in Melbourne on October 29.

"He is such a special person and is full of life despite everything he has been through," Waugh said. "He mixed and laughed with the guys so well and they loved him. He even had a bit of a dig at (fast bowler) Glenn McGrath, saying he was getting old, that it was time for him to stand aside for the new, Brett Lee.

"Mathew also brought along a book that his mother started and that he has now taken over, which tells his life story. All of the players read it. Some reckoned it was the best book they have ever read."

Waugh has stayed in touch with the Dean family and was shocked to learn when Mathew's condition deteriorated dramatically a few days later. "We thought we were going to lose him," said Mrs O'Connor who revealed his recovery had also been helped by a phone call from his other hero, fast bowler Brett Lee.

Mrs O'Connor said she has spent so much of the last year sleeping on a chair next to her son's hospital bed that she has had trouble adjusting back to her bed at home.

The time spent at the Royal Children's Hospital also meant that she lost her job as a shop assistant. But she would still "count up her dollars" so she could buy tickets to the Boxing Day Test.

"Tell her not to worry about that because we will get her tickets," said Waugh when The Age told him of her plight. "In fact unless they have other plans maybe they will be able to join the Australian team and their families on Christmas Day."

Waugh's support for an ill boy should not be a surprise. Not only has Waugh been a great charity worker, but he remains the patron of a fund in Calcutta to help children of lepers.