Patient McGain still waiting for his turn

Bryce McGain is used to waiting for his opportunities. This is a man who spent so long in the workforce before becoming a full-time professional cricketer that he took not one but two batches of long-service leave. His banking career lasted 17 years so a couple of months here or there doesn't make a great difference to him.

McGain turns 37 in less than a fortnight and for a player who is yet to wear the baggy green cap it's a birthday that could cause a flutter of panic. Will the chance ever arrive? His first tour with Australia was cut short in October when he was sent home from India with tendon damage in his armpit and on his second trip, to South Africa, he has been overlooked for the first two Tests.

The only member of the original touring party who now does not have a baggy green, McGain has been forced to watch on as debutants Marcus North, Phillip Hughes and Ben Hilfenhaus have thrived. It would have been easy for frustration to set in for the man who has been nominated as Australia's No. 1 spinner but he knows Australia's all-seam attack is being determined by conditions and that all he needs is patience.

"Of course I'd love to be playing - that's what we all want to do and play our role on the field - but if my role at the moment is running drinks around, that's okay, I'm happy to do it at the moment," McGain said. "As conditions change, the team make-up might change. Looking forward it's probably going to be hard to change a winning combination, they're doing so well."

But while McGain has accepted that he may complete his first full tour without playing a Test, the chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch has given an indication that a specialist spinner will be strongly considered for Thursday's third Test in Cape Town. Hilditch's comments came after Simon Katich's occasional wrist-spin picked up three key wickets in the second innings of the win in Durban, where McGain could only wonder what his own legbreaks could have achieved.

"I'm rapt for him. I'm as excited as he is," McGain said of Katich. "I guess that's the way I am. If I don't get a chance, well, I don't get a chance. I can't control that. But I know that if I do get the chance I'm going to grab it with both hands and do the very best I can. I'll be mentally nice and clear in my mind what I need to do."

That has been the case for all the players, young and old, during Australia's tour. They have each known their roles and done what was asked of them and McGain said while many people outside the squad had doubted Australia's ability to win the series, the players had always believed in themselves.

"We haven't really been following the press back home but we understand now that there were some murmurings that maybe we were the worst group to go away," he said. "I know that there was a lot of belief in the group before we went and it's just a good bunch of cricketers. We've played against each other domestically for a long time. We knew everyone had the talent to put it all together."

If McGain doesn't make his debut at Newlands his next opportunity would be on the Ashes tour, where he deserves to be a certainty in the touring squad if not in the first Test. One of the biggest challenges of McGain's new travelling lifestyle is spending long periods away from his nine-year-old son Liam, who spends half his time living with his mother and half with McGain.

"I obviously miss him a lot, hanging out and all those things," McGain said. "But with technology these days like Skype, we keep in touch pretty regularly. He loves that and he's chatting away. It gives me a good lift when I do it, so I do it as often as I can. Most days, every other day, we're in touch and it's good to hear his voice and hear what he's doing day to day. It's just simple stuff but it's good having a chat."

Liam will perhaps be the only person in Australia more excited than his father if a Test debut arises. But for now, McGain is happy to be surrounded by other success stories.

"It's fantastic to be involved," he said. "There are a lot of worse things to be doing than being 12th man for Australia. I've really loved it."