Enthusiasts,
Cannot let the retirement of Stuart Charles Glyndwr “That Strange Cunt” MacGill from the test match arena, at the age of 36 [or is it 37?], pass without comment.
[A reminder on how he got his moniker. Found myself standing in a beer queue one day at a Sydney test match some years ago now, when Warne and MacGill were bowling in tandem. Struck up a conversation with a total stranger, who out of the blue said, “and that Stuart MacGill, now he’s a strange cunt, don’t you reckon?” He was forever afterwards known as TSC MacGill.]
He certainly set himself apart from the average first class cricketer in being a book reading wine drinker [having nothing much better to do, he allegedly read 24 novels on a tour of Pakistan, while arranging with the Australian Ambassador to bring a couple of cases of his favourite reds in through the diplomatic bag, from time to time].
Seems like we have been watching TSC play at the SCG since the dawn of time, he’s been such a part of the furniture at the old ground.
He was the classic strike bowler, for mine, on that track in particular
Could always be relied on to take a key wicket in a sticky situation, and while he was well known - like the boxer who let down his guard - for being hit, for plenty on a regular basis, he did in fact have a better strike rate than SR Warne in test cricket, and his average is only a couple of runs worse.
When on song, he had a bigger, and a better leg break than Warne’s, and his cleverly disguised arm ball, that fizzed off a huge SCG turner and went straight on, fooled many a good quality bat, to their cost.
For a bloke who should have appeared in more test matches than he did, undoubtedly his crowning achievement was joining the two hundred club.
As he himself put it “there are not that many children whose father’s have taken 200 test wickets”.
Also widely respected for having principles and some moral fibre when he refused to make himself available for the 2004 tour of Zimbabwe.
It was always a joy to watch “the comedy bat”, as he was known in the Ladies Stand, and his antics at No.11
Although there was the day when he featured in a tenth wicket century partnership for NSW [forget who with now, damn] and contributed a grand total of three runs.
He rated that as one of his finest achievements in the first class caper.
And of course he was possibly the most hapless, hopeless fielder in the modern era and his various skippers had to work hard to find places to hide him.
Met the bloke socially a couple of times, and he struck me as a jovial sociable normal sort of human being; so you have to admire the paradox that while off the field he behaved like a perfect gentleman, the stories of his on field indiscretions are legion.
There are far too many to mention.
But did like the time he clocked and laid out flat a team mate while playing in the Lancashire league [?], and called his own captain a “useless sh!t”
Or in the more recent past…the time at the start of last season when he got away with just a three match suspension for calling an umpire a “blind cunnt” and then some, in a Sydney grade match.
Or the time when a young Pakistan batsman during the Australia A tour there last year got so completely on his goat, that he utterly humiliated the poor kiddie with such an invective of abuse, that the boy became a jibbering nervous wreck, and never played a good game again.
TSC was sentenced to counselling for that one.
He was once asked why he never showed much emotion on the field [apart from thinly veiled volcanic fury when dealing with underperforming team mates, impudent batsmen or idiot umpires] or celebrated or even smiled when he was taking wickets, to which he replied “it’s too hard to smile, test cricket is just too hard for that”
Remember one day watching NSW play at the Newcastle No.1 Sports Ground.
TSC had just been dropped from the test side, and hadn’t had a very good day in the field turning out for his beloved Blues in the Milk Cup game.
At the end of the day’s play, the team were doing a warm down on the field, when a spectator walking by yelled out “Hey MacGill ! What’s it like when you’re about to join the ranks of the long term unemployed?”
Quick as a flash TSC retorted “Good. And I’ll be the one right behind you in the dole queue, mate.”
It’s always sad to see one of the last eccentrics and genuine characters give the game away.
But he’s done it gracefully, handing his tour mantle to the Casson kiddie to be the 401st.
No one like that will be allowed to play the game for Australia at the top level again.
He will be missed and fondly remembered.
Vale The Great TSC MacGill.
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