MacGill mystified by Ashes omission

Stuart MacGill, who watched helpless as Australia crashed to an Ashes series defeat to England, said on Sunday that his omission from the losing team made no sense. The legspinner, who has taken 160 wickets in 33 Tests, went through the entire Ashes series without receiving a word of explanation from selectors about why he was overlooked for all five Tests.

MacGill looked on as England's batsmen showed a dislike for the turning ball with fellow legspinner Shane Warne snaring 40 wickets. MacGill said the selectors' decision not to choose him was a mystery. "There was no explanation whatsoever," MacGill told Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper. "Warney took 40 wickets when he's supposed to be past it. He had 16 wickets in two Tests, before the (third) Old Trafford Test, when I thought I might have been a good chance of getting in there somewhere. None of it made much sense to me.

"I'm looking at the tour now in two ways. There was the cricket side of it and the general experience. If I remove cricket from the tour, it was great. It was a nine-week, well-paid holiday. Obviously, I wish it hadn't been that way, but it was. If you add cricket into the mix, it was a debacle.

"I was sitting there watching us go downhill without being able to help." MacGill said the gruelling workload on Warne took its toll on the champion leg-spinner by the fifth and final Test at The Oval earlier this month. "The workload that Warney had during the series ... you just can't expect someone to carry the attack, statistically and physically. It's a big mental drain.

"There was obviously some conservative thinking there and some nerves in the decision-making. I can understand it to a point, particularly when you consider that maybe my forte isn't keeping the runs down, but thinking like that isn't how you win Test matches."

MacGill and Warne are likely to be paired on the spin-friendly Sydney Cricket Ground when Australia play the Super Series Test against the Rest of the World from October 14.