MacGill emerges from Warne shadow

MacGill emerges from Warne shadow

Stuart MacGill, living in the shadow of Shane Warne, has learnt to take his opportunities when they arise and on Sunday he did it again with his seventh five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

The leg-spinner snared five for 65 as Bangladesh lost the first Test here by an innings and 132 runs midway through the third day's play at Marrara Oval.

MacGill now has the career statistics of 121 wickets in 24 Tests, five wickets a Test, remarkable considering that he is regarded as the understudy to Australia's greatest wicket-taker Shane Warne, currently sitting out a 12-month drugs ban.

Warne has taken 491 wickets in 107 Tests at slightly less than the wicket-taking ability of the New South Wales tweaker.

"I've learned through my career that when you get a chance with the ball you have to make the most of it, so I'm really quite satisfied with how it went today," MacGill said.

MacGill said Bangladesh didn't die wondering on Sunday and he was taken for two sixes by Al Sahariar and young fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza in the second innings.

"That last six I got hit for (Mortaza) was definitely one of the biggest sixes off my bowling," he said.

"Normally 90 per cent of my wickets come from my leg-break and even in the first innings I got both my wickets with something different.

"In this game I felt if I was consistent with my leg-break perhaps the variation was a chance and it was.

"I've been playing for Nottinghamshire in the English county championship and we play on really slow wickets and I think it's improving my bowling because the margin for error is much smaller over there."

Indian team living example of national cricket : Dalmiya

The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya effusively praised the recent showing of the Indian team, describing it as a shining example of national integrity.

"We have a Bengali Brahmin (Sourav Ganguly) as captain. The batting is led by a Marathi genius (Sachin Tendulkar) and a Dravidian rock (Rahul Dravid) ably supported by a Muslim from Allahabad (Mohammad Kaif), a Jat from Delhi (Virender Sehwag) and a Punjabi from Chandigarh (Yuvraj Singh)," Dalmiya said at the prize distribution ceremony of the Cricket Association of Bengal at Kolkata.

"The bowling is spearheaded by a Karnataki (Javagal Srinath), a Muslim from Baroda (Zaheer Khan) and a Punjabi youth (Harbhajan Singh)," he said.

Refering to the success of the Indian team, Dalmiya said "their performance has indeed been good. We played well in England and Sri Lanka. Though our performance was not up to the mark in New Zealand, the turnaround we achieved in the World Cup after the initial setbacks was almost unbelievable".

No BCCI assignment now: Kapil Dev

Legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev said he has no plans to take up any assignment with the BCCI.

"I'm happy with whatever I'm doing now and have no plans to undertake any assignment with BCCI," said Kapil Dev.

Kapil Dev said he felt foreign coaches could face a communication problem while coaching Indian players and the language barrier should be kept in mind while appointing coaches "as that would help a lot".

"Foreign coaches are at a disadvantage when it comes to conversing freely with the players and giving tips," Kapil said.

Admitting that the team needs a couple of good all rounders to become a formidable one, Kapil Dev said "quality all-rounders are a must for any team and their inclusion makes all the difference".

When asked about the entry of women anchors and commentators in cricket, Kapil Dev said, "it's a positive sign and an ecounraging one too. This trend could popularise the game even more," he added.