Stuart MacGill

Stuart MacGill

Australia

Full name Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill
Born February 25, 1971, Mount Lawley, Perth, Western Australia
Current age 36 years 4 days
Major teams Australia, Devon, New South Wales, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Western Australia
Nickname Mac
Playing role Bowler
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak googly
Height 1.83 m
Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	40	45	11	347	43	10.20	702	49.43	0	0	38	2	16	0
ODIs	3	2	1	1	1	1.00	3	33.33	0	0	0	0	2	0
First-class	171	203	53	1522	56*	10.14			0	2			72	0
List A	107	41	19	171	26	7.77			0	0			22	0
Twenty20	5	2	1	13	8*	13.00	11	118.18	0	0			1	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	40	10211	5387	198	8/108	12/107	27.20	3.16	51.57	9	12	2
ODIs	3	180	105	6	4/19	4/19	17.50	3.50	30.00	1	0	0
First-class	171	38053	21528	728	8/108		29.57	3.39	52.27		41	6
List A	107	5228	4347	193	5/40	5/40	22.52	4.98	27.08	10	4	0
Twenty20	5	104	144	6	3/42	3/42	24.00	8.30	17.33	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	Australia v South Africa at Adelaide - Jan 30-Feb 3, 1998
Last Test	Bangladesh v Australia at Chittagong (CDS) - Apr 16-20, 2006
ODI debut	Australia v Pakistan at Sydney - Jan 19, 2000
Last ODI	Australia v India at Adelaide - Jan 26, 2000
First-class span	1993/94 - 2006/07
List A span	1997 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2003

Profile

The praise lavished on his decision to boycott Zimbabwe in 2004 because of moral concerns continued an unwelcome pattern in the life of Stuart MacGill: he has long generated headlines for being out of the Australian team rather than for his performances in it. An old-fashioned operator with a gargantuan legbreak and majestic wrong'un, MacGill has the best strike-rate and worst luck of any modern spin bowler. His misfortune has been to play alongside Shane Warne in an age when Australia, the land of Grimmett and O'Reilly, have paradoxically frowned on the concept of fielding two wrist-spinners at once. After showing they could work in tandem with 13 wickets against Pakistan at Sydney in 2005, MacGill hoped - almost pleaded - for more double-act opportunities. Playing seven matches in 2005-06, he dismantled the World XI with nine victims and probably waved goodbye to overseas touring life in taking 16 wickets in the two-game series against Bangladesh.

MacGill has stayed philosophical throughout his career, eagerly running in and invariably running amok. He bewitched 53 wickets in 11 Tests during Warne's 12-month drugs ban in 2003-04, yet was maligned for bowling one boundary-ball per over; a shade unfairly, considering that was the standard modus operandi for all leggies pre-Warne. A batting duffer and increasingly feckless fielder, he has played only three one-day internationals despite collecting his domestic scalps at a stupefying rate of one every 27 balls. Unusually for a bowler, MacGill seldom smiles upon taking a wicket. Instead he lets out a roar of accomplishment. "People ask me why I don't smile - it's because it's really hard," he explained in 2003-04. "Test cricket's hard ... I'll take a wicket and there'll be an explosion of emotion." It is one of MacGill's many quirks. He is a wine connoisseur who only recently learned to enjoy the taste of beer, and he once read 24 novels on a tour of Pakistan. The son and grandson of West Australian state players, he socialises with friends who aren't cricketers and is often portrayed as a thinker, a misfit, the odd man out. It is something he plays down - although, tellingly, no other Australian cricketer felt compelled by their conscience to stand out of touring Zimbabwe. Australia's next scheduled Test trip is to Zimbabwe in 2007 and MacGill's mind has not changed.