MacGill credits Warne with his own success

Shane Warne is often named as the reason Stuart MacGill has not been a mainstay of the Australia team for the past decade. MacGill, however, believes his opportunities could have been even more limited had Warne never arrived on the international scene.

Writing in a blog for The Guardian, MacGill said when the pair were still developing players he realised the chances the Victorian could create for him. "He became someone who opened many more doors for me than he closed," MacGill said. "Without Shane having kicked the door down I would have spent way too much time worrying about the bad balls instead of looking at the batsman with the knowledge that he might have nightmares if I got one right."

MacGill, who was overlooked by the selectors for the Sydney Test and faces competition from younger spinners for the role as Australia's long-term slow bowler, scoffed at the suggestion that Warne's success had hampered his own. "Spin bowling in Australia had become little more than a defensive art," he wrote. "This was a tragedy, given our rich spinning history, and the major reason why I laugh at anyone who suggests that I was born in the wrong era."

Warne's technical precision was something to behold, MacGill said. "I regard him as the greatest spin bowler of all time for many reasons, but it must be especially noted that he possesses the most physiologically simple and efficient action you could dream of," he said.

"When most of us fight an ongoing battle with our bodyweight in delivery stride [I rotate far too much] he effortlessly propels himself straight towards his target ball after ball. This has enabled him to easily modify his game with age and injury, and quickly adapt to any conditions."