Gorilla Macgilla retires
Almost as sudden as Damien Martyn's AWOL retirement, Stuart Macgill has announced his retirement upon the end of the current 2nd Test. Gorilla has been waiting for over a decade for Warnie to retire. Now he finally gets his time in the sun, he's been delivering nothing but longhops and waist high full tosses. You get the feeling half his mind was on planning his next TV show on wine tasting as he came into bowl. Seeing the writing on the wall, he's decided to leave before he's pushed.
What of the 3rd Test? Will Beau Casson be thrown into the deep end? I'd like to see it although again, you could never accuse the Australian selectors of taking bold decisions. More likely is Ashley Noffke gets the nod. Win-win as far as I'm concerned.
Even more interesting is who will be Australia's spinner in next year's Ashes. A Warnie comeback still seems impossible but Warnie did say if Macgill breaks his leg, he might consider it. A retirement works just as well.
| Posted by JC on Mon 2 Jun |  7 comments |
That's just rude. It's got all the hallmarks of the M.Clark fiasco... picking and choosing when to play. If the selectors pick you then you must play as far as I'm concerned.
He could have at least done the decent thing and waited to be dropped for the 3rd Test before sticking the two fingers up just because he's throwing pies.
It's as if some of these modern-day players have nothing but contempt for the ACB and their Baggy Green...
Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-06-02 16:38:22
He could have at least done the decent thing and waited to be dropped for the 3rd Test before sticking the two fingers up just because he's throwing pies.
It's as if some of these modern-day players have nothing but contempt for the ACB and their Baggy Green...
Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-06-02 16:38:22
The ACB? Gaz, you're showing your age :-)
Reminds me of when I went to buy a cricket bat last year, commented to the kid serving me that none of the bats had scoops. He looked at me like I'd just time travelled from Victor Trumper's era.
Posted by JC on 2008-06-02 21:27:00
Reminds me of when I went to buy a cricket bat last year, commented to the kid serving me that none of the bats had scoops. He looked at me like I'd just time travelled from Victor Trumper's era.
Posted by JC on 2008-06-02 21:27:00
Well this has been a constant pattern in all the recent retirements in world of cricket. Cricketers declaring retirements in midst of series. The trend was started by Poms ( Artherton was it ??) and now Aussie Players have picked it up. In test series the team loses focus and initiative. If these guys know their time is up they should do that before or after the series.
Indian Players are away from this epidemic.Well of course they wait till they are shown the door :P
Posted by unsuidojo on 2008-06-03 11:47:35
Indian Players are away from this epidemic.Well of course they wait till they are shown the door :P
Posted by unsuidojo on 2008-06-03 11:47:35
In Macgill's defence, the way he is currently bowling, a mid-series retirement is probably the best option he could take. I'm keen to see how Beau Casson goes in the 3rd Test. Replace Mitchell Johnson with Ashley Noffke and things would get really interesting.
While we're at it, drop Katich, move Hussey into the opening position, hmm, who could slot into the middle order... Hodge is better than a kick in the head.
Posted by JC on 2008-06-03 12:22:52
While we're at it, drop Katich, move Hussey into the opening position, hmm, who could slot into the middle order... Hodge is better than a kick in the head.
Posted by JC on 2008-06-03 12:22:52
I am happy MacGill has retired, he is unfit to play.
Its not quite the same as the Clarke situation where there was nothing stopping Clarke from playing. Plus who here honestly would want to risk even the 1% chance that MacGill would make it to another test.
We should have a dead rubber next, so now would be a good time to test out Beau and Noffke and maybe try Hussey up the order. Or bring in Shaun Marsh as an opener.
Posted by Andrew on 2008-06-03 17:53:29
Its not quite the same as the Clarke situation where there was nothing stopping Clarke from playing. Plus who here honestly would want to risk even the 1% chance that MacGill would make it to another test.
We should have a dead rubber next, so now would be a good time to test out Beau and Noffke and maybe try Hussey up the order. Or bring in Shaun Marsh as an opener.
Posted by Andrew on 2008-06-03 17:53:29
Frankly, I think this retirement was overdue.
MacGill was one of blokes who gave one good ball but atleast 3 shockers out of ten. In test cricket, that simply isn't good enough.
It was unfortunate he had to live in Warne's shadow throughout his career, but he's made pretty good use of his opportunities. You'd never think he's taken 200+ wickets.
It wouldve been better if he'd announced it at the end of the series, but with cricketers and sudden retirements these days...lets not go back to Marto again, please?!
Anyways, Thank ya MacGilla for your contribution to cricket and wish you all the best post retirement.
Posted by Ajesh Nag on 2008-06-03 21:54:27
MacGill was one of blokes who gave one good ball but atleast 3 shockers out of ten. In test cricket, that simply isn't good enough.
It was unfortunate he had to live in Warne's shadow throughout his career, but he's made pretty good use of his opportunities. You'd never think he's taken 200+ wickets.
It wouldve been better if he'd announced it at the end of the series, but with cricketers and sudden retirements these days...lets not go back to Marto again, please?!
Anyways, Thank ya MacGilla for your contribution to cricket and wish you all the best post retirement.
Posted by Ajesh Nag on 2008-06-03 21:54:27
I'm massively disappointed that he has retired - and not just because I had money on him being the top Aussie wicket-taker in the Windies series.
MacGill was exciting, partially because you didn't quite know what you were going to get, but mostly because of his ability to turn the ball and extract bounce when he actually landed it on the cut strip. Before the start of the Windies series, he took his Test wickets at 28.14 runs apiece, with a better strike rate than Warne (53.1 compared to 57.4 for Warnie.) His destruction of England at Sydney was a delight even for an Englishman, purely because the sight of a ball turning a yard off the straight - not the rough - is a rare and hence an astonishing one. If he had not been Australian, he would have played a great many Test matches, and would have taken hundreds of wickets. However, if he had not been Australian, he probably wouldn't have been a legspinner anyway, and his art would have been lost to the world.
I had been looking forward to him stepping out of Warne's shadow and terrorising the international scene before retiring to his wine tasting at the age of 39. Instead, his like-for-like replacement, Beau Casson, has 100 first-class wickets in 40 matches at over 40 runs apiece; I am not expecting quite the same fireworks from him. I am certainly not expecting him to do anything quite like this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jWHD50XvqVQ&feature=related
Posted by paperhouse on 2008-06-05 03:05:53
MacGill was exciting, partially because you didn't quite know what you were going to get, but mostly because of his ability to turn the ball and extract bounce when he actually landed it on the cut strip. Before the start of the Windies series, he took his Test wickets at 28.14 runs apiece, with a better strike rate than Warne (53.1 compared to 57.4 for Warnie.) His destruction of England at Sydney was a delight even for an Englishman, purely because the sight of a ball turning a yard off the straight - not the rough - is a rare and hence an astonishing one. If he had not been Australian, he would have played a great many Test matches, and would have taken hundreds of wickets. However, if he had not been Australian, he probably wouldn't have been a legspinner anyway, and his art would have been lost to the world.
I had been looking forward to him stepping out of Warne's shadow and terrorising the international scene before retiring to his wine tasting at the age of 39. Instead, his like-for-like replacement, Beau Casson, has 100 first-class wickets in 40 matches at over 40 runs apiece; I am not expecting quite the same fireworks from him. I am certainly not expecting him to do anything quite like this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jWHD50XvqVQ&feature=related
Posted by paperhouse on 2008-06-05 03:05:53
Post New Comment
You need to be logged in to post a comment. If you're new, register here. Existing users, login via the right margin.
