Lord Stuey was like an unromantic, and grumpy version of Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
Unfortunately for him he walked into a dressing room that was more Mad Max than Jane Austen.
He was never ever going to fit in, some will say he didn’t have to.
They could be right, 200 wickets @ 28 with a titillating strike rate should have been enough.
But the Australian public has an image of it’s cricketers, and Stuey MacGill was not it.
The fact a born and bred Australian could be thought of as less Australian than a West Indian dread locked Pommy born player is amazing.
Stuey is Australian, but he just aint the Australian that most people automatically think of.
He was too educated.
Quiet when he should be loud, and loud when he should be quiet.
He sledged his team mates more than he sledged the opposition.
He was sulky.
Too sure of himself.
Wanted to distance himself from the sport that made him.
Took political stands.
Hated Murdoch papers.
Got excited in odd moments.
Bowled too many bad balls.
Had an air that alienated sports fans.
Sometimes he looked angrier getting a wicket than he did getting hit for four.
His long sleeves and correctly annunciated words were of another era, and another country.
The average Australian cricket fan thought he was a wanker.
He wasn’t the sort of bloke you’d have a beer with, want your sister dating, could visit port phillip island with.
Stuey was more the kind you’d expect behind the lectern giving a speech on Political Science.
Australian cricket is not the place for a man like him, and it showed throughout his whole career.
He had the anger, the hunger and the skill to play for Australia, but he just did it differently.
At his best he was in the top 3 leg spinners in the world.
At his worst he was uglier than a Chernobyl reunion.
He imparted amazing spin on the ball.
When he took wickets, he took bag fulls.
But he was erratic, he was difficult and he could lose the plot like few before him.
His failures were extravagantly wonderful, including bowling the West Indies to a record 4th innings run chase.
Team mates, the media and fans couldn’t work him out, the fact that Brad Hogg, a man with 1/80th the skills level was more well liked tells a great picture.
He was Lord Stuey, the man with the golden hands.
Part old world spinner, part new world intellectual.
A man who enjoyed a sip of merlot to a skull of xxxx.
A man who refused to fit in.
A man who very rarely bored you.
You may have loved him.
You may have hated him.
But how many people had no opinion on him at all?
Stuey, it has been a pleasure to bag you, worship you, laugh at you, laugh with you and watch you.
You have earned your place in the Leg Spinning Val Halla.
MacGill had a couple of good years, but overall he was much worse than his average. A lot of his wickets were cheap tailenders – and really his average should have been about nine runs higher than Warne’s, rather than three or four. He was ineffective against the top batsmen.Overall I think 200 wickets is pretty fair for someone of his abilities – even if Warne hadn’t been in the team, I don’t think he deserved a longer Test career than what he got.Good to see someone a bit more intellectual in the Australian cricket team though. He didn’t deserve the bagging that he got from everyone over reading books and whatnot.
DB, i agree with you about the 200 wicket limit and the tail enders, but that is a leg spinners job. And not all of them can do it.
What is it about Australians leaving test cricket in the middle of a series… Aren’t the Baggy Greens meant to be the toughest team on the planet?So I guess he’s sharing that island with Damien Martyn now…
LB, Better than a 4 month going away trip.
J, you mean like Tugger and Phlegm?True, but leaving mid-series is a bit odd.
I was thinking like Gilly. But yeah it is odd, but if he kept bowling that way he may not have gotten to choose when he left.
OK, new rule.People are only allowed to retire at the end of a series.As for retiring at the end of a mid-series test you’re actually playing in…No self respecting wine-maker would pull a stunt like that,
And what will happen if they break your rule LB?I agree David, he didn’t deserve the shit he was dished. And Jrod, the Mr Darcy comment elevates your respect level. You never cease to amaze me.
When they break my rule MF I’ll accuse them of being Damien Martyn.What’s that bagging Murdoch papers thing about? He keeps going up in my estimation.And BTW, never took a wicket agains NZ…
Apparently he would often be extra surly with Murdoch’s boys, and a little more friendly to the opposition.
I think I would get on well with him in real life. I’m a bit grumpy sometimes, I like books and wine (if I were a person who would ever get married, in that hypothetical situation I would totally want books and wine for presents), I get excited in odd moments, I like long sleeves.
I know it’s shallow but I can’t get excited about grey hair on cricketers. Bit like Gower and Brearley. Good blokes I daresay but not the sort to get you fired up really.
Sarah,Did Mark Richardson rock your boat too?And what about Caddick?
Can anyone else hear “My Way” in the background as they read this post?
But why did he come back? Suspect he’s off becoz of Warne’s nth coming in the ipl – better to retire now than be dropped for another Warne comeback. That’ll make him suicidal if he isn’t already.Last coupla years he’s lost a lotta control, seems like 2 bad balls an over instead of one. And 2bad lifetimes…
NC, cause it was his chance to finally get a starring role and not be an understudy.BY the way was very happy to write a whole post on MacGill without mentioning warne.
Leg break – No and no.I think you cemented my point!
This rare photo of the Australian team’s fielding practice would seem to bear out your observations, jrod:http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u83/Rampantmel/madmaxmacgill.jpg
Link didn’t work, sorry. Try this:http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u83/Rampantmel/madmaxmacgill.jpg
Bugger. Have given up. You’ll just have to take my word for it that it was highly amusing.
The link works, Mel, and is magnificent. Here’s a shorter link. http://tinyurl.com/4mlzob