Farewell Stuart MacGill

Another day, another valedictory to a retired Australian cricketer. If we can only get rid of Hayden, Ponting and Hussey in the next 12 months, the next Ashes might be competitive.

Stuart MacGill is the latest to head off into the sunset, having decided that the drawn Test in Antigua would be his last. Odd - and sad after all he has done for Australia - that he should leave mid-series with his wrist injury proving too difficult to overcome. It is a shame he couldn't bow out on one last high, with just one wicket for almost 200 runs in his final game.

It sounds as if the parting has been a difficult one, with MacGill fined his final match fee for oversleeping and missing the team bus. There were also allegations, strenuously denied by MacGill, that he had turned up under the influence of alcohol.

Well, he can now head off to present his TV programmes on wine and watch as Australia try to uncork a spinner as good as MacGill or that tubby chap he used to fight for a place with. Beau Casson is the anointed successor given that Brad Hogg has also retired, but I admit to knowing nothing about the 25-year-old chinaman. His first-class record appears modest on paper. Perhaps some of our Australian readers can shed some light.

I do know from chatting to Terry Jenner, the Australian spin guru, that Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey are highly regarded and Bryce McGain, a 36-year-old leggie who has bloomed late in life, is also in the mix. But that does mean that when England next play Australia the man given the spinning job will be pretty new to us. On the plus side, Warne says he was only joking about making a comeback.

Anyway, farewell MacGill. It's astonishing - and probably quite depressing for him - that the fourteenth most successful spin bowler in history in terms of wickets taken and the fourth fastest bowler of any kind to take 200 Test wickets will always be regarded as some sort of super-sub rather than an outstanding bowler in his own right. He came into his own during Warne's enforced year off, taking almost five wickets a match, but he needed to play Test cricket for a decade just to get to 44 matches.

Given that Tiger O'Reilly and Clarrie Grimmett worked so well in tandem for Australia in the 1930s, it seems a shame that the present selectors couldn't be tempted to play Warne and MacGill more often in the same side. They offered different styles of leg-spin bowling and, as they showed in taking 13 wickets against Pakistan at Sydney three years ago, could fit together to run through sides quite comfortably.

A prickly character who occasionally ran into trouble with opponents, team-mates and officials, MacGill often appeared on the verge of blowing his own head off when he took wickets. Peter Roebuck, his captain during a year with Devon, said that MacGill's temper didn't fray at the edges, it frayed in the middle.

Well, farewell hothead. You may have been only the second best spin bowler in your country (and perhaps the second best in the world at the same time) but if you'd been English you would have played more than 100 Tests. That said, you may have lost a few more matches than the six you lost with Australia. Six lost Tests in ten years of cricket: that's some record to look back on.

Comments

[Jim]

Casson should be given a chance in Tests prior to the Ashes. Doubtless his modest first-class record will prove to be a red herring, but I don't think the Aussies need worry even if he doesn't bed in well. Symonds and Clarke can take care of the spin duties, allowing them to hit England with a battery of four quicks - Lee, Johnson, Clark and A.N. Other (preferably someone seriously fast).

From an England perspective, talk of Rashid playing Test cricket in the near future is optimistic at best. It'll be far more interesting to see whether Flintoff, Harmison or Jones can break back into the XI. At least one of them will need to be back and bowling at their peak if England are to have any chance of taking the series - something that seems less likely given the genius decision not to play at Old Trafford or Trent Bridge...

[Michael]

Liz, you're on drugs. I dont know a single fellow Aussie who would agree with you. As for McGill, his most important stat is a test career strike rate of 53, the best out of all modern spinners. And please don't start with Bangla wickets, for example does anybody realise how many wickets Murali has against Bangla and Zim? 173@14!!!

[Liz]

Enlgand are favourites for the 2009 Ashes.

These are the thoughts here back in Australia.

[tony]

what planet are you on ? Second best spin bowler in the world ? I think that Muttiah Muralitharan and
Anil Kunble would beg to differ

[Aj]

Contrary to Deans comments, Beau is the youngest in a family of 7. Whilst his figures are moderate on paper he took 24 odd wickets in the last 4 games of the season at an average of around 28 for NSW. He also scored nearly 500 runs at an average of 60 for the season.
In the Pura Cup final he took part in a record 7th wicket partnership with Brett Lee (he ended up with 89)and took 4 wickets in the final innings.
He has always been a very handy cricketer with a near impossible to pick wrong 'un. Remember Warne averaged high 30's in first class cricket as did Mac Gill when they started out in test cricket. Definitely one to watch, a match winner with ball and bat.

[dean]

Beau? Me old mate Beau! Yeah great bloke. Known him for years. By crikeys the kid can play. And you know what mate? He's got a younger brother they reckon is better than him. Yep heard it at the Royal Hotel from someone who would bloody know these things.

[Rusty]

Very nice post, Patrick.

Normal service is resumed

A well-developed character profile, no less.

[SanjayN]

I don't believe MacGill was anywhere as good as his PR men like us to believe. He bowled a lot of rubbish - every over in fact. A boundary ball was guaranteed, and apart from the big leg spinner, he appeared to have no other deliveries in his armoury. Certainly one couldn't say he had many variations, unless you count a n unexpected dot ball that follows a boundary delivery.

Some people even dared to compare him to Warne. A quick look at MacGill's numbers show 93 of his wickets come against Bangla and the Windies, two of the lesser teams during his career. You can't think of any batsmen that he tormented altho he does have Lara's scalp four times. And his retirement timing smacks of someone seeking attention. I reckon England will actually be sad to see him go.

Still, 200 Test wickets is not to be scoffed at so I'll tip my hat without actually taking it off.

[Tim]

Great stuff on a terrific under-rated bowler and a personal fav (check out my piece on him too).

Aus vulnerable for 2009? If two from Harmy, Jones and Flintoff are fit and firing, I think so...But got the Saffers to worry about first!

[Miriam]

Gosh, I think Beau himself would struggle to come up with that much information. If you're not the Beau Casson expert would the Beau Casson expert please stand up?

[Jrod]

I'm not an expert On Beau Cassonology, but let me try.

Casson strode on the scene in Western Australia and Brad Hogg was shoved aside. He took wickets in big bags, but at other times struggled on a hostile home pitch at the Waca.

So he did what quite a few good young spinners do, he came to New South Wales, where a baggy green is given in a secret ceremony.

There he did pretty much nothing for a couple of years, as he fought for a spot with MacGill and Hauritz.

Finally NSWales decided that Hauritz was no good and Casson started play to play as a bowling all rounder consistently this season.

The first half of the year he took very few wickets, batted like a cockroach with pads on, and I thought this might be the last we saw of him for a while as a 19 year old leg spinner was being groomed by New South Wales.

Casson obviously noticed as well, and he started taking big bags of wickets again. Then he started making runs.

This cultivated with him slaughtering Victoria with bat and ball in the shield final, the little rat bastard.

He spins it, not Warney or MacGill like, but more than Hogg. He looks like a confidence bowler to me, and has a good googly.

McGain is by far the better bowler right now, but Casson is the better package.

[Rob]

Well done Stuart - always a good decision to go on your own terms. It's a great achievement to take 200 test wickets, though it should have been many more.

I'd love to see Adil Rashid join Monty in the test side and see our own spin twins. Given the lack of experienced spinners from Aus, should we be asking the test groundsmen of England (Peter Marron excepted...), to prepare spinning wickets for 2009.

[Oscar]

Ah, Patrick, hope springs eternal, but I think you've overlooked Clark and Clarke and Lee and Symonds and it's starting to look like maybe Hopes and Shaun Marsh and Watson (if he can be persuaded not to break something if playing more than 20/20)and probably the other Hussey. But yes, we Aussies have yet to find a replacement on the field for Warnie...