Stuart MacGill

Stuart MacGill Biography

It was a cruel, cruel joke of fate that Stuart MacGill had to share space and time with a maverick genius called Shane Warne. Hence, one of the best leg-spinners of his era, certainly the most complete and classical considering the weaponry of a huge leg-break and a superb googly, played only a handful of Test matches.

Yet, in the limited opportunities that came his way, when Warne was out treating injuries or being disciplined, or in the rare games in which they were allowed to bowl in tandem, MacGill did manage to carve a niche for himself that remains glittering in its own right.

The 44 Tests saw him pick up 208 wickets, with an average of 29 that revealed the only weakness of his — the propensity of sending down one boundary ball per over. However, his strike rate reads a staggering 54.0. It is better than any spinner in history with hundred or more wickets, barring the pre-World War One trio of Bobby Peel, Colin Blythe and Johnny Briggs. He captured wickets faster than even the demonic Muttiah Muralitharan, and consumed three and a half balls less per dismissal than Warne.

In those 44 Tests were squeezed in 12 five-wicket hauls and two ten-fors. And against the spin-seasoned Pakistanis, he captured 23 wickets in four Tests at 25 apiece — a testimony to his class.

An endearing, old fashioned, rabbit with the bat, he was as unlike an Aussie cricketer as one could get. In the midst of hard-core beer drinking mates, he stuck out like a sore thumb as a wine connoisseur. Yet he managed to become one of the cherished and respected members of a great, great team.

And in spite of being an exact contemporary of Warne, he did enough to be counted as one of the long line of excellent leg-spin googly bowlers produced by the land, starting from Ranji Hordern, to Arthur Mailey, to Clarrie Grimmett and Bill O'Reilly, to Richie Benaud and finally Shane Warne himself. It is a pity that the selectors favoured the three pacers and one spinner combination, and not for the fascinating spin-twin in the lines of Grimmett-O'Reilly. If their outlook had been different, one can only wonder what MacGill would have ended up with.

Arunabha Sengupta

Stuart MacGill Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	44	47	349	11	43	9.694	715	48.81	0	0	38	2	16	0
ODIs	3	2	1	1	1	1.000	3	33.33	0	0	0	0	2	0
T20s	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Stuart MacGill Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	44	11237	6038	208	29.02	3.224	54.	12	2	8/108	12/107
ODIs	3	180	105	6	17.50	3.500	30.00	0	0	4/19	4/19
T20s	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		4/19

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