da esport bet： The hardest thing about watching Bryce McGain’s Test dreams slip away amid a barrage of boundaries in Cape Town was that he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body
Brydon Coverdale in Cape Town21-Mar-2009
AB de Villiers carts Bryce McGain over midwicket © Getty Images
The hardest thing about watching Bryce McGain’s Test dreams slip awayamid a barrage of boundaries in Cape Town was that he doesn’t have amean bone in his body. A 36-year-old father of one who has waitedyears for his opportunity, McGain is so humble and so friendly thatit’s impossible not to wish him well.When the Australians filed off the Newlands field at lunch on thethird day, McGain had 0 for 113 from 13 overs. He could have beenforgiven for skulking away into the dressing room to hide from thespotlight. Instead, while his team-mates hurried towards the lunchtable, McGain lingered on the boundary to sign every bat and shirtthat was thrown his way, and there were plenty of them.It was the kind of generous gesture that few men would have made inthe same circumstances. When he came out after the break, his figuresdidn’t improve a great deal and he finished his first innings of Testcricket with 0 for 149 from 18 overs. One of his tormentors was AB deVilliers, who scored 163. Despite being in fierce competition with theAustralians, de Villiers said it tough to watch McGain’s Test hopesfade so quickly.”It was truly heartbreaking,” de Villiers said. “I’ve got a prettysoft heart and life is hard. It’s really bad to see a guy [suffer]. Iwouldn’t want him to get five wickets, obviously not. Out there it’s abattle and I’m going to give it my best shot and hit him for six sixesif I can. If I don’t, well done to him.”It was really tough to be out there because I know the guy is goingthrough a hard time. But it’s unfortunately part of the game.Hopefully he’ll get a chance again. I don’t know if it’s going tohappen because the Aussies are pretty tough on their selection and theway they pick their guys. I hope he gets another chance and I hope hestands up after this.”The hardest thing now for McGain, who is the seventh specialistspinner Australia have used in Tests since the start of 2008, isknowing if another opportunity will come. Such a disappointing debutmust have severely dented his hopes of being part of this year’s Ashestour and he is in the unfortunate position of having no domesticcricket before that trip to bounce back.Australia’s precarious situation in the match means there is a strongpossibility he won’t get a chance to bowl again in this Test. It alsodidn’t help his cause that the part-time wrist-spinner Simon Katichcame on late in the innings and picked up two wickets in two overs.McGain’s Victorian team-mate Peter Siddle hoped there would be furtheropportunities.”It was tough,” Siddle said of watching his good friend struggle. “Icouldn’t really help him too much about how to bowl. He’s a bit downand disappointed with how we went but I’ve played a lot of cricketwith Bryce back home and he’s a tough competitor. He always fightsback and I’m sure he’ll work hard and further down the track he’ll putin some good performances for Australia.”That’s something that Siddle himself has already achieved and he putin another strong performance in Cape Town. His body had a heavyworkload – he bowled 35 bone-crunching overs and collected 1 for 67 -and he deserved far greater rewards as the best bowler in anattack that battled. As a result of his colleagues’ disappointingresults, Australia have been left facing a gigantic challenge to stayin the match with two days to go.”It’s a tough position for us,” Siddle said. “We finished up at theend of the day 350 still behind so we’ve just got to go about tryingto knock off those runs and it’s going to take a while to do that, sowe’ve just got to bat time and stay positive and patient.”