‘A disgrace’: MacGill slams selectors for not picking spinner in 140-year SCG first

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Former Test leg-spinner Stuart MacGill has branded Australia’s decision to go without a specialist spinner at the SCG “a disgrace” and called for a full review of George Bailey’s position as chairman of selectors.

In a scathing interview with this masthead on day two of the fifth Ashes Test, MacGill slammed the omission of off-spinner Todd Murphy on a day when Joe Root helped England post a healthy first innings total of 384 to seize control of the match.

MacGill, who snared 53 wickets in eight matches at the SCG and 208 all up in his 44-Test career, said he was “dumbfounded” by the decision not to select a frontline spinner in Sydney for the first time in 140 years.

“It’s not just a disgrace, it is idiotic,” MacGill said. “I don’t know what game they [selectors] have been watching for the past 20, 30 or 50 years – they’ve conveniently forgotten the people who have taken wickets are spin bowlers.

“I demand a full review of our selection policy and the selection panel. This has to stop. I’m pointing the finger at George Bailey and the selectors because their policy is wrong. They’re [spin bowlers] not being selected because we’ve got the wrong selectors.

“I have a lot of time for Steve Smith – I think he’s a wonderful bloke and a great captain and obviously a great player – but I don’t care what he thinks as a batsman about this pitch and whether or not it’s suitable for a spin bowler.

Australia’s head selector George Bailey.

“A spin bowler should play on every surface.”

MacGill says Australia’s assertion that the pitch would not benefit a spinner is a cop-out, arguing slow bowlers get their wickets through deception in the air, not solely off the surface.

With Nathan Lyon injured, Australia were expected to select Murphy for his first Test on home soil. Instead, they opted for three fast bowlers and two all-rounders, Cameron Green and Beau Webster.

“A well-intentioned former spin bowling colleague said [recently] that wickets have changed since I played. Well, my favourite surface to bowl on in Australia was the Gabba,” MacGill said.

Stuart MacGill (left) celebrates a wicket for Australia in 2005.

“Don’t give me any of this crap about the SCG not turning. Sure, there were some pitches I played on that were bereft of grass, but in my best return in a Shield game at the SCG, the pitch was like a carpet.

“I think all bowlers around Australia are pissed off. Some of the best fast bowlers in Test history have said they should have a spin bowler in this Test match.

“As far as the spin bowling fraternity, we’re just concerned that in the BBL and IPL [Twenty20 competitions], we’re taking all the wickets. We’re putting bread on the table of batsmen all over the world, and they seem to have forgotten that.”

MacGill pointed to the game’s greatest wicket-takers as evidence spin could succeed anywhere.

Todd Murphy missed selection in Australia’s XI for the final Ashes Test at the SCG.

“Who are the top two wicket-takers in Australian Test history?” he asked. “[Shane] Warne and Lyon. Most in Test history? [Muthiah Muralidaran with 800] We’re the ones who take the wickets on all surfaces. As Warnie used to always say, ‘If it seams, it spins’. If you tell me that there’s too much grass on a wicket, and therefore it’s no good for a spin bowler, I’d put you in the same box as these current selectors.

“I am still going to coach spin bowlers to deceive batsmen through the air. It’s not off the pitch. You don’t beat Joe Root or Steve Smith off the pitch – it’s in the air.”

MacGill, who had a lower Test bowling average at the SCG than Warne, said the spin king would be “going off his brain” about the lack of a spin bowler in the Test side.

“He’d be very concerned,” MacGill said. “There’s not going to be any spin bowlers playing Test cricket unless we change our attitude towards them. It’s ridiculous.

“It’s the attitude that hurts me the most. If you’re fair dinkum about winning a game, you need options.

“The people taking wickets in the short forms of the game are wrist-spin bowlers, and yet for some reason, we seem to think they’re ineffectual on any surface in Test cricket.

“When Harry Brook started to go [hard] on day one, I’d have brought a spinner on straight away. We’ve got plenty of stock; there’s a lot of good bowlers in NSW and around the country.

“Clearly, nobody in the Australian camp thinks that Travis Head is a spin bowler. They’re not going to bowl him much, and it’s ridiculous.”

The SCG has been the toughest Test venue for spinners during the past five years with an average of 49 runs a wicket.

MacGill said slow bowlers were no longer getting the respect they deserved, following remarks from Queensland leg-spinner Mitch Swepson, who said it “sucked” to see no specialist spinner selected in Sydney.

“The writing was on the wall at the beginning of the year when Nathan [Lyon] was playing for NSW and Tanveer [Sangha] wasn’t getting a game,” MacGill said. “For some reason, they’ve decided that Tanveer is just a white-ball cricket player, and that’s not true. He should have been playing with Nathan in those NSW teams. If he did, we may have a spin bowler in this Test match.

“He bowled on an absolute road against Queensland and got three wickets. We need to show respect. On a flat deck, the quicks don’t want to bowl. We take all the heat.

“It demands a full review.”