Warne wants MacGill for Hobart Test
Shane Warne on Friday urged selectors to bring in fellow leg-spinner Stuart MacGill to bamboozle the West Indies in next week's second Test at Hobart
11-Nov-2005
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MacGill was left out of Australia's massive 379-run victory over the tourists in last week's first Test for seamer Nathan Bracken, but there is a push to get the wrist-spinner to reunite with Warne for the second encounter. Statistics show that the West Indies have a history of weakness facing leg-spin bowlers.
Warne, Test cricket's leading wicket-taker, has captured 54 wickets in 17 Tests against the West Indies at 30.18, while MacGill has 48 in 12 Tests at 31.89. With the pair bowling at their peak -- they have taken 28 wickets between them in their past two Tests together -- Warne believes he and his spin partner can inflict more pain on the tourists on a Bellerive 'turner'.
"If conditions suit down there, I'm sure we can do well like we have in the Super Test (against a World XI) in Sydney recently. I think both of us are bowling better now than we have before. We went to Sri Lanka [last year] and bowled together, and against Pakistan this year in Sydney, and the Super Test -- in those Test matches we've bowled together, I've been fully fit and he's been bowling well. We've done very well together, so I'm sure we can cause a lot of batsmen out there a bit of heartache."
In 1999, Warne was dropped for the first and only time in his Test career on the tour of the Caribbean, and injuries after that prevented him from playing against the West Indies until last week's first Test in Brisbane, where he took 5-48.
Selectors are also tinkering with bolstering the middle order with debutant Brad Hodge and all-rounder Andrew Symonds, which could mean MacGill might miss out again.