Stuart MacGill

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Stuart MacGill
Australia
Personal information
Full name Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill
Nickname Mac
Born 25 February 1971 (1971-02-25) (age 37)
Mount Lawley, Perth, Australia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm leg spin
International information
Test debut (cap 374) 30 January 1998: v South Africa
Last Test 16 November 2007: v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 141) 19 January 2000: v Pakistan
Last ODI 26 January 2000: v India
Domestic team information
Years Team
1996 – present New South Wales
2002 – 2004 Nottinghamshire
1997 Somerset
Career statistics
Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 44 3 179 107
Runs scored 349 1 1,533 171
Batting average 9.69 1.00 10.08 7.77
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/2 0/0
Top score 43 1 56* 26
Balls bowled 11,237 180 39,433 5228
Wickets 208 6 752 193
Bowling average 29.02 17.50 30.40 22.52
5 wickets in innings 12 0 42 4
10 wickets in match 2 n/a 6 n/a
Best bowling 8/108 4/19 8/108 5/40
Catches/stumpings 16/– 2/– 74/– 22/–

As of 23 November 2007
Source: Cricinfo

Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill (b. 25 February 1971) is a former right-arm leg spin bowler of the Australian cricket team. Despite being credited with having the best strike rate of any modern leg-spin bowler, MacGill has not had a regular place in the Australian Test team, often being overlooked due to the dominance of Shane Warne in the position of sole spinner, for most of his career. He was recently brought back in 2007 after the retirement of Warne, as spinner for the first Test against the Sri Lankan cricket team. He announced his retirement from international cricket during the second test of Australia's 2008 tour of the West Indies [1]

MacGill is noted as an intellectual type, having once read 24 books on a tour of Pakistan[2] and at odds with his other beer-drinking team-mates, MacGill is a keen wine connoisseur.

Contents

[edit] Early years

MacGill was born in the Perth suburb of Mount Lawley and began his first class career in the 1993/94 season playing for Western Australia. He managed just one game, against New South Wales at the SCG but did not take a wicket and did not play again for over two years.[3] When he returned in 1996/97 it was for New South Wales and he took 6 wickets in the match, the first being Darren Berry.[4] He finished the season with 16 wickets at 37.00.[5]

He spent the English summer with Somerset and despite not playing in that year's County Championship he played a game against the touring Pakistan A side.[6]

1997/98 was the breakthrough season for MacGill, he made his his Test debut and finished with 35 wickets at 28.14 in the Sheffield Shield.

[edit] Test career

In the 3rd Test against South Africa at Adelaide in January 1998, MacGill was selected as Australia's second spinner and helped them to draw the match with 3 for 22 in the second innings.[7] He next appeared in October of that year for a tour of Pakistan, finishing the series as Australia's top wicket taker with 15 victims at 27.46.[8]

MacGill kept his spot in the side when they returned home for an Ashes series, again finishing as Australia's most successful bowler with 27 wickets at 17.70. His tally included his then career best innings figures of 7 for 50, made in the 5th Test at Sydney.[9] He took a total of 12 wickets in that match and had done enough to convince the selectors to use two spinners for their tour of the West Indies.

After taking just 12 wickets from the four Tests he was dropped from the side, only returning when Australia hosted the West Indies in 2000/01. In a series whitewash, all the Australian bowlers bar MacGill, who took 16 wickets at 31.31, managed to average under 20 with the ball.[10]

He played his next Test in January 2002 against South Africa, taking 7 wickets. With Warne unavailable for the 4th and 5th Tests of the 2002/03 Ashes series, MacGill came in and despite taking 12 wickets he averaged over 40.[11]

With Shane Warne serving a drugs ban, MacGill returned to the Caribbean in 2003 and for the next year acted as Australia's sole spinner. In the 11 Tests that he played, including the Caribbean tour, he took 53 wickets. He played series against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and India.

Sri Lanka toured Australia in 2004 and despite Warne returning to the side MacGill kept his spot. He struggled throughout the Test series and took just 5 wickets at 46.40.[12] He lost his spot in the side and over the next year and a half played just two Tests, both on the spin friendly SCG wicket. The first was against Pakistan and his 8 wickets earned his the Man of the Match award. The second was against the ICC World XI and he managed 9 wickets.

A graph showing MacGill's test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.
A graph showing MacGill's test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.

MacGill partnered Warne when Australia hosted the West Indies for a Test series in 2005/06. He took 5 wickets at Hobart and just 2 in Adelaide. He played again in the Tests that followed, against South Africa and won a place in Australia's squad for their inaugural tour of Bangladesh. At Fatullah he took 8 for 108 in the first innings, his career best figures.[13]

Warne retired from Test cricket at the end of the 2006-07 Ashes series, although MacGill faces competition for a place in the side from several younger players. MacGill was never a serious contender for the One Day International team, and has since retired from that form of the game.Macgill announced that he would retire after the 2nd Test against the West Indies.

[edit] Personal life

MacGill's father Terry and grandfather Charlie both played cricket for Western Australia and Stuart is married to journalist Rachel Friend.[14]

He has a fondness for wine and books, once reading 24 novels during a tour of Pakistan.[2]

Known for his individuality, he was the only Australian Cricketer to declare himself unavailable to tour Zimbabwe in 2004 on moral grounds.

[edit] References

  1. ^ MacGill retires from international cricket. Cricinfo.
  2. ^ a b Stuart MacGill's Cricinfo page. Cricinfo.
  3. ^ Scorecard: New South Wales v Western Australia 1993/94. CricketArchive.
  4. ^ Scorecard: New South Wales v Victoria 1996/97. CricketArchive.
  5. ^ Bowling in Sheffield Shield 1996/97. CricketArchive.
  6. ^ Scorecard: Somerset v Pakistan A. CricketArchive.
  7. ^ Scorecard: Australian v South Africa 1997/98. CricketArchive.
  8. ^ Test Bowling for Australia - Australia in Pakistan 1998/99. CricketArchive.
  9. ^ Scorecard:Australia v England 1999. CricketArchive.
  10. ^ Test Bowling for Australia - West Indies in Australia 2000/01. CricketArchive.
  11. ^ Test Bowling for Australia - England in Australia 2002/03. CricketArchive.
  12. ^ Test Bowling for Australia - Australia in Sri Lanka 2003/04. CricketArchive.
  13. ^ Scorecard: Bangladesh v Australia 2005/06. CricketArchive.
  14. ^ http://www.mediafriendly.com.au Stuart MacGill. ECB. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.

[edit] External links

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