MacGill's Test career likely to be stalled Tuesday

SYDNEY - Leg spinner Stuart MacGill's Test career looks headed for limbo again with Australian selectors almost certain to leave him out of the squad to tour India when it is chosen on Tuesday.

Test selectors are weighing up whether to name a 14 or 15-man squad for the three Test tour, but panel chairman Trevor Hohns said today they were leaning towards 14.

That means a spot is unlikely to be found for MacGill, with the selectors likely to take leggie Shane Warne and off-spinner Colin Miller as their slow bowlers.

Hohns was on hand to watch MacGill take two wickets for the Blues today in their win over Western Australia in the Mercantile Mutual Cup one-day game at North Sydney Oval.

"We haven't decided yet," Hohns said of the make-up of the touring party, which will be announced by the Australian Cricket Board on Wednesday.

"We have the option of 15. We would like to do it with as less as we can because there's a lot of cricket being played here still.

"Invariably 15 for a Test match series where there's three Tests and a couple of other games, one or two blokes are going to be sitting around. "If we can it will be 14 but we have the option of 15.

"I guess it's a matter of whether we take an extra bowler (and) whether it is an extra spinner or fast bowler.

"We will obviously confer with the captain and coach on that to see what their opinion is. At the end of the day it's our decision."

MacGill has endured a chequered Test career, taking 75 wickets in 16 Tests but never cementing a berth in the Australian side.

He took 16 wickets in four matches during Australia's whitewash of the West Indies this summer, but was dropped for the one day series when Warne recovered from a broken finger on his spinning hand.

The Windies series ended an 18 month spell out of the national side after MacGill had taken Warne's place on the 1999 West Indies tour.

Warne, Australia's leading Test wicket taker, reclaimed his place after the successful World Cup campaign in 1999.

Meanwhile, batsman Simon Katich did his chances no harm with 72 in a losing cause for the Warriors today, but it is unlikely to pay off with a berth in the touring squad to India.

"I don't expect to be there at all," he said.

"I think they're playing very well. I was just happy with that week (I was in the one day squad) and enjoyed being a part of it."

Selectors are almost certain to take Damien Martyn as their seventh batsman, with Damien Fleming likely to join Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee in a four-pronged pace attack.

Likely squad: Michael Slater, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Colin Miller.