MacGill bowls himself into Test contention
Stuart MacGill appears to have bowled himself into contention to take over injured Shane Warne's Australian Test spot with a mesmerising spell of leg spin in Melbourne on Friday.
Warne confirmed Friday that he will miss at least the first three Tests against the West Indies in Australia this summer with a fractured finger suffered while fielding on Thursday.
MacGill announced he is ready for a Test recall by demolishing Victoria's middle-order for New South Wales on the third day of the Sheffield Shield cricket match. He snared 3/0 in ten balls to have Victoria wallowing at 62 for six on his way to impressive figures of 3-34 off 17 overs.
Despite MacGill's heroics, the Blues were unable to press home their dominance on another rain-marred day and Victoria finished the day at 140 for six and still needing another 111 runs to take first innings points after New South Wales were bowled out for 250.
Victoria had Brad Hodge and skipper Paul Reiffel to thank for their survival with the pair combining for an unbroken 78-run partnership. Hodge was 60 not out at stumps with Reiffel on 34.
Elsewhere, fringe Test player Damien Martyn signalled he would not give away his spot lightly with a patient century for Western Australia (WA) against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Martyn top-scored with 122 in WA's first innings of 480 for eight declared while teammate and Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist was also in brilliant touch with 102.
WA took complete control of the match late in the day to leave South Australia on the ropes at 133 for five at stumps on day two, still needing 198 runs to avoid the follow-on.
Paceman Damien Wright gave Tasmania the upper hand against champions Queensland with a late burst of wickets on the second day of their match in Brisbane.
At the close, Queensland were in trouble at 258 for six in their first innings in reply to Tasmania's 403.
Wright (3-61) orchestrated a burst of 3-11 in the final session to rattle Queensland's hopes of first innings points after one-day international player Andrew Symonds (49) had put the home team on track.
Mail Cricket Editor
