MacGill leaves a deep imprint on English batsmen

It wasn’t long before Warne was striking in his own right, dismissing the flat-footed Mark Butcher,playing back to the over-spinner. In his comeback, it had taken Warne only four balls to do what it had taken him almost hundred deliveries in Sheffield shield cricket — confirmation that he’s a big match bowler as well as being an indictment on England’s ability to play spin.

The attraction of Warne had drawn another full house for the second day and the blonde bamboozler didn’t let his faithful supporters down. It’s fascinating to watch Warne and he quickly summed up the situation to his own benefit. At one end MacGill was turning the ball prodigiously by imparting a lot of side-spin and Warne decided the Englishmen would be expecting something similar from him, so he bowled mostly over-spin to obtain more bounce and sacrifice some turn. Not only did this have the effect of making them different in style when bowling in tandem, it also served to confuse the English batsmen.

It was this combination which struck the next major blow, Graeme Hick well caught by Warne, from the bowling of MacGill. Althoughthe ball spun a lot and it was a sharp catch, the main contributor in the dismissal was the batsman. Hick is a lazy player and it was his refusal to move his feet that brought about his downfall. The fact that this has been a major problem for Hick throughout his career suggests he has done little to help himself. Continuing the tradition of this series the loss of one English wicket was quickly followed by another. Nasser Hussain had again fought hard without being able to take control of the innings, as a number three must, until he thrust forward with pad and bat to Colin Miller. The sharp chance flew to silly mid-off where the lightning reflexes of Mark Waugh snapped up his 100th Test catch — the sixth Australian to reach that level.

Miller then claimed his second wicket when he bowled the battling Warren Hegg. Some people will say that justified his selection, but I feel Damien Fleming was hard done by, as he had taken sixteen wickets since the Gabba at the extremely good strike rate of 37. Fleming ismore likely to take wickets with the new ball than Miller and those victims are priceless. For the first time in the series John Crawley looked assured against the spinners, pulling both Warne and MacGill in front of square-leg and also being prepared to work the ball into the gaps. However, one lapse in concentration was enough and his edge to a bouncing leg-break gave Mark Taylor his 156th catch, level with Allan Border.

That exposed the tail and MacGill is becoming quite adept at polishing them off quickly. This was a sign of MacGill’s maturity, using his full repertoire thoughtfully and for specific situations. MacGill’s second five-wicket haul at Test level gave Australia a 102 lead and they now have ample time to wrap up the series 3-1, a true indication of the teams’ worth.

SCOREBOARD

Australia: (1st innings) 322

England (1st innings): M Butcher lbw Warne 36, A Stewart c Warne b McGrath 3, N Hussain c M Waugh b Miller 42, M Ramprakash c MacGill b McGrath 14, G Hick c Warne b MacGill 23,J Crawley c Taylor b MacGill 44, W Hegg b Miller 15, A Tudor b MacGill 14, D Headley c McGrath b MacGill 8, D Gough lbw b MacGill 0, P Such not out 0; Extras:

(b8, lb8, w1, nb4) 21. Total (all out in 80.1 overs) 220

Fall Of Wickets: 1-18, 2-56, 3-88, 4-137, 5-139, 6-171, 7-204, 8-213, 9-213.

Bowling: McGrath 17-7-35-2, Miller 23-6-45-2, MacGill 20.1-2-57-5, Warne 20-4-67-1

Australia (2nd innings): M Slater batting 11, M Taylor batting 2; Total: (for no loss, 7 overs) 13

Bowling: Gough 3-1-3-0, Headley 2-1-4-0, Such 2-0-6-0.