Fare Thee Well Magilla

[Mr. Wicket]

Stuart MacGill retires. Another fine spinner bites the dust.

Stuart MacGill has announced his retirement from international cricket, to take effect from the end of the current Test in Antigua. MacGill has struggled to have much impact in the Caribbean, where he is playing his first Tests since having surgery on his right wrist in December to deal with his carpal-tunnel syndrome. He will finish his career with 44 Tests and at the time of making his announcement, he had 207 wickets at 28.43. "When I was injured at the start of last summer I spent a great deal of time thinking about what cricket meant to me," MacGill said. "Since my debut for New South Wales in 1996 every door that has opened for me has been courtesy of cricket. "I am incredibly lucky that as well as providing me with amazing opportunities off the field, my job allows me to test myself in one of Australia's most highly scrutinised sporting environments. The instant you take a wicket a volcano of emotion erupts inside you but you have to quickly put the fire out and start again. This feeling is the only reason I play cricket. "Over the past six months I have experienced enough highs and lows to fill a lifetime. My 200th Test wicket couldn't have been scripted any better. I will never forget the happiness I felt when my family welcomed me at the hotel that night, yet the very next week I was filled with the pain and disappointment of injury. "Although I considered retirement at the time, I decided to prove to myself that I could rise again and trained privately harder than I have done in years. When I bowled Brad Hodge in the Pura Cup final I knew that despite the often suffocating public scrutiny I loved my job. I also knew that I was ready to play Test cricket again. "Unfortunately now my time is up. One of the treats for a bowler playing Test cricket is that you have a champion bowling up the other end. Bowling with some of crickets all time greats such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee has made my job a lot easier. I want to be sure that exciting young bowlers like Mitchell Johnson enjoy the same privilege. "As I said many times last summer, there is no way I will ever walk onto a cricket field unless I can guarantee that I can dismiss top order batsmen consistently. The prospect of letting myself and the team down is simply not an option. I have worked way too hard for too long to sabotage my achievements by playing Test cricket for the wrong reasons. "Some people may worry about the future of spin bowling in this country, but I am not one of them. My game improved exponentially with each step up I made, and I am sure that any of the young spinners playing state cricket will thrive given the same opportunities. I am very excited for Beau Casson, another Western Australian boy who made a very good move east. "I can't wait to see Rachel, Alex and Penny because knowing they are at home makes this decision so much easier. My family has been the foundation upon which I have laid my cricket career and I would like to thank my mum and dad for their love and support."

[umpire]

he looked like struggling and it was inevitable. Although he should have given himself full series.

[Cricketics]

playing 44 test and making a living out of it was fantastic from him. good bowler, an underated one during his peak, just because he happens to be from a country where Warney took birth. sad to see him go

[Gambit]

"Unfortunately now my time is up. One of the treats for a bowler playing Test cricket is that you have a champion bowling up the other end. Bowling with some of crickets all time greats such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee has made my job a lot easier. I want to be sure that exciting young bowlers like Mitchell Johnson enjoy the same privilege.

Rrrrrrrrright :withstupid::creep: Anyway, he was a very good bowler around the turn of the century and always did well in Warney's absence but TBH he has been utter tripe against the WI. I remember how everyone was oohing and aahing about him during the 1998-99 Ashes when he outperformed Warne at Sydney and then in West Indies(when Warne was dropped but Macgill retained). But Warne's class just completely outshone Magilla in the series and years to come and Australia simply weren't the sort of team to consistently play two (leg) spinners in the playing XI. Had a phenom called SKW not happened, Magilla would have played close to 100 tests and taken close to 350 wickets and bowled around 10000 more 4-balls. :D

[Cricketics]

Had a phenom called SKW not happened, Magilla would have played close to 100 tests and taken close to 350 wickets and bowled around 10000 more 4-balls. :D

hmm, he had alredy taken 200 wickets in 44 tests lol another 250 perhaps by 100 test matches took 200 wickets in 40 tests, warney and murali got in 41st:-D

[Cricketics]

herez the memorable delivery and the memorable moment http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=63778&highlight=mcgill [ame=http://media.putfile.com/Mcgillz-200th-test-wicket-]Mcgillz 200th test wicket - Putfile.com[/ame]

[Desi Cartman]

MacGill Retires I think its the right decesion since he has had few injuries in the last 24 months. I feel sorry for him since he was always in Warne's shadow. People compared him with the best leg spinner ever and I cant imagine how much pressure he had because of that comparison all his life

[graphic23]

"It's not as if they know what I am bowling, it's almost as if they don't really seem to care what I am bowling."

After the Adelaide 2003 Test. Lately his form has been bad though and the part-time spinners are bowling better, and perhaps that led him to announce his retirement.

[DomainK]

Now, Ausytralia dont have many good spinners to chose from. After Warne, McGill and Hogg were their best options. Both have retired now. However Warne gave indications that he wanted to come back for the Ashes. I wonder who will be their spinner on the India tour.

[Mr. Wicket]

A really class gesture on the way out. Apparently MacGill first told his wife of his plans to retire - then the next person he spoke to was Beau Casson (the next in line spinning choice), so Casson could have as much time as possible to make arrangements to fly his family into the WI for his (hopeful) debut.

[Desi Cartman]

Booze behind MacGill’s call?

Sydney: Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill and the team management have reportedly agreed that his decision to retire from international cricket was not because he was drunk, but because of discipline-related matters and concerns over his recent substandard performances. MacGill announced his retirement only a day after turning up late to the ground during the second Test against the West Indies in Antigua. He and coach Tim Nielsen will refute claims that he took the abrupt call to retire because he was intoxicated. Former West Indian champion Viv Richards walked into the ground with MacGill and reported the leg spinner was “sheepish” but did not appear under the influence of alcohol.

[Laaloo]

lucky guy retiring now atm getting owned by sarwan

[riya]

The only mistake he did was born in Australia ,started playing cricket in the Shane Warne era .

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

I loved his awkward bowling action. Must be the only bowler in cricket history who averages 5 wickets per test inspite of never being a regular bowler in the team. I'd like to have seen more of him.

[observer1]

a little better than hirwani. unfortunately, every time i saw him bowl, the sequence of balls in a typical over would be huge leg break, huuge leg break, huuuuge leg break, short ball thumped over midwicket for 4, huuge leg break but short and wide and left alone or cut for 4 depending on state of game, googly flicked for single.

[The Outsider]

Never really impressed me. Yes, he got the wickets but that was largely due to the incompetency of batsmen and a desire by batsmen to score off him considering he was the weak link in the attack. I doubt he would have managed more than 4 wickets a match if he was a regular member of the side and didn't have the advantage of playing so many matches with Warne on turners.

[suraj]

Never really impressed me. Yes' date=' he got the wickets but that was largely due to the incompetency of batsmen and a desire by batsmen to score off him considering he was the weak link in the attack. I doubt he would have managed more than 4 wickets a match if he was a regular member of the side and didn't have the advantage of playing so many matches with Warne on turners.[/quote'] Completely agree- you stole the words out of my mouth Quite a useless bowler IMO