MacGill retirement to leave Australia in spin

Stuart MacGill’s sudden retirement is set to expose Australia’s next generation of untested spinners to an Indian tour with calls for Shane Warne to make a dramatic comeback likely to fall on deaf ears.

MacGill begrudgingly called curtains on his 44-Test career midway through the second Test against the West Indies in Antigua after admitting, at 37, he was no longer up to the rigours of international cricket – despite overcoming serious knee and wrist injuries over the summer.

He will play out the Test, with NSW left-arm chinaman Beau Casson likely to make his debut in the third and final Test starting in Barbados next week.

The biggest concern for selectors, though, will be for Australia’s four-Test tour of India in October, with Ricky Ponting’s side facing the likelihood of playing a resurgent India on dry and dusty wickets without a spinner of note.

Casson averages a modest 40 with the ball in domestic cricket but, given his selection for the Caribbean tour ahead of the likes of Victorian 37-year-old Bryce McGain and South Australian younsters Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey, must now be viewed as Australia’s No.1 spinner.

It had been hoped MacGill could provide a bridge between the retirement of Warne early last year and the emergence of a new frontline spinner but, just eight Tests into the post-Warne era, the dearth in young spin talent is set to be exposed.

It is likely to prompt further calls for Warne to make a stunning return after the champion leg-spinner, who took 708 Test wickets during his career, last month said he would consider a comeback for next year’s Ashes if MacGill was unavailable and he was approached by captain Ponting.

Former Australian leggie Kerry O’Keefe said a Warne comeback was now a possibility.

“He definitely could come back,” O’Keefe said of the 38-year-old Victorian, who today captained the Rajhastan Royals to victory in the inaugural final of the Twenty20 Indian Premier League.
“I’ve watched a lot of him in the IPL, I think it’s now going to be a possibility if he has a desire to do it.

“Obviously he has to come back and play first-class cricket … and whether or not the grind of Test cricket as a player, and not a captain, is as attractive for him, we’re going to find out I guess, because this will generate a lot of interest now.

“I think Warney would be worth a phone call, just asking ‘what’s doing Shane?’.”

That call, though, would appear highly unlikely given Cricket Australia’s cold response when Warne first talked of a comeback a fortnight ago. Warne too, has since downplayed the prospects.

MacGill, though, is confident a new spinner will emerge, and backed Casson to do well in Barbados if picked.

“A lot of people are really worried about that, I don’t think I am,” said MacGill, who told Casson before the rest of the team on Saturday night that he was going to retire. Casson responded by giving his NSW teammate a hug.

“I honestly believe that you are never going to know how good you are until you’ve had a go at it.

“The reason that NSW chased Beau Casson so hard was because we think he can bowl and we think he can win games. He proved that this year.

“Hopefully now he’s coming into a great (Australian) team, there is a lot of great players in that side who can help you along.

“History is littered with players who have better Test averages than first-class averages and I think I’m one of them.

“I guess sometimes you need to be faced with some pretty serious challenges before you find out what you’re made of.”