Warne and Macgill at work... (more shane than stuart it has to be said) No narrative here, just my recordings of them bowling against south africa. (though i've tried to put it in sequence)
Shane Warne the man I love to hate because of what he has done to batsmen from Pakistan consistently for many years.Truely a legend and I don't think there will be another bowler like him.
Great upload this one. Classic Warne at 4:42. Begging the ump and having that shocked and disgusted look on his face that he's not given out. Umpire smiling as he walks off. Feels like we saw that Warne appeal a thousand times. So good to watch. That first ball to Gibbs bounced true, but went through him so fast. Fantastic variation he had, a huge test for any bat. Some excellent real time slo-mo vision at 7:52 of MacGill's terrific wrongun.
I remember the wicket of Gibbs... Warne had set him up so beautifully... He was bowling short to Gibbs whole time and then that ball... Warne the magician
Feel very sad to realise the fact that Stuart Champion Macgill only played 7 more test matches after this match and then took his retirement in the 2008 #legendforareason #themostunluckiestguyinthehistoryofAustraliancricket
Not sure he’s the unluckiest in Australia as he at least got to play test cricket. Peter Anderson was the Queensland wicketkeeper, broke his finger, Ian Healy was the backup keeper, Healy was picked for the tour of Pakistan in 1988 and the rest is history. Other players like Jamie Siddons, Jamie Cox, Stuart Law, Martin Love (made a century in his last test) could also be considered much more unlucky than MacGill.
MacGill... Had he been born ten years earlier, or ten years later would've walked into the Aus team but he couldn't supplant Warne because of Warne's better batting.
Warne was the greatest leg spinner ever played the game. Mcgill was capable of taking 500 test wickets but it is near impossible to even make into the team with Warne playing. But he still played 40 odd test matches and took that many test wickets shows something about that man's quality. He would hv been the best leg spinner of his era if he hadn't born in Warne's era.
Benaud's comments on Macgill and leg spin around 08:00 are concise and yet so informative... what a wonderful commentator. Modern commentators could learn a lot from the way Benaud refrained from speaking unless there was really something to say.
2 major difference between them : 1.number of VARIATIONS. 2. WARNE use to DRIFT the ball in the air , McGill use not to drift that much . He bowled only loopy tragectory.... ( leg spinner becomes more lethal if he starts drifting the ball massively)
Michael Walker bear in mind this was the back end of warnes career and a shoulder injury had pretty much ruled out the flipper and googly, he got most of his wickets with accuracy and variations in pace and flight during his last few years.
Both bowlers could produce unplayable balls, and it is probably true that MacGill produced them more often than Warne (look at their strike rates). But MacGill was an old fashioned leggy - he would also bowl regular long hops. But they were both great bowlers, and poor MacGill was dead unlucky to be around at the same time as Warne.
Macgill was far more wayward a leg spinner than Warnie, didn't have anywhere near the same level of control Warnie had. Every ball Macgill bowled landed somewhere different, often too straight and spun down left handers leg side, or too short. Macgill could impart more side spin thanWarne by this time in Warnie's career, but just never had the ability to build pressure by landing ball after ball in the same spot. Warnes brilliance late in his career was his accuracy, and his cunning, always out thinking batsman. All he had by this point was the leg break and the slider, due to a bad shoulder. And he was still getting the best batsman out. Macgill would get his wickets due to the sheer amount of spin he imparted on the ball, Warnie got his through out smarting & deceiving batsman.
I watched MacGill for a long long time. And due to the sheer amount of spin he imparted on the ball, and partly due to his bowling action, he was rather wayward a leg spinner. That is, in comparison to Warne who had it on a string. Most of MacGills deliveries landed in different areas as opposed to Warne's more pin point accurate style of bowling. A lot more half trackers, low full tosses & balls bowled to straight came from MacGill. I still loved watching him bowl, and he had an underrated career. But he was a lot more erratic a bowler than Warnie.
A key difference in approach towards Warne is that the batsmen of England, NZ, Pakistan etc played him very defensively while the Indian batsmen attacked & went after him and unsettled him
because indian batsmen were excellent against spin and also that the overseas spinners in general weren't effective in India specially spinners who like to air the ball like warne.
Must Admit those days Aussies had Huge Bench strength Shane warne was injured and Stuart Macgill used to be a Decent Alternative he used to be 75% like warne !! and troubled the regular Batsman !!!!
Needless to say that Stuart McGill only played when the pitches were spin friendly, therefore any statistical comparison with Shane warne becomes irrelevant. Beside possessing extraordinary skills , Warne was probably the smartest bowler ever.
Warne rarely bowled the googly, and when he did it rarely deceived top batsmen (unlike his flipper and his slider). As a more old fashioned legspinner the googly was MacGill's big variation.
Is there any more unlucky bowler in history than MacGill? If he had been our main spin bowler in a time when there was no Warne I'm sure he could have taken 500 wickets.
