Guilty! The verdict is out for Stuart MacGill: Found guilty for dealing drugs

MacGill’s cricketing career

Stuart MacGill was a talented leg spinner; there is no doubt about that fact. However, he was unlucky enough to be playing at the same time when unarguably the greatest leg spinner the sport has ever seen was playing for Australia. Meanwhile, the wrist spinner got limited chances and played 47 games for the national team. 

Some of his best performances came under the captaincy of Mark Taylor. In the eight tests he played under Taylor, MacGill took 47 wickets, averaging only 21.78. In the summer of 2005/06, seven to eight years after making his debut, the leg spinner produced a great series of consistent performances. In seven matches that he played, MacGill returned 38 wickets at 20 apiece. This included an eight-wicket haul in the first innings of the tour to Bangladesh. In the summer, MacGill was wicketless only once in 14 innings.

Australian leg-spinners and their infamous love affair with drugs continue

This is not the first time an Australian leg spinner has faced issues with a drug-related issue. In the past, one Shane Warne had taken the world by storm not just with his on-field performances but his off-field antics as well. Warne, too, had faced major life-altering issues with drugs. However, in contrast to MacGill, Warne was ruled out from playing during his career. 

In 2003, Warne took a prohibited drug. It was a banned diuretic, which he had consumed after being told that it would help him look slimmer. A day before the ODI World Cup, he was sent home from South Africa and faced a one-year ban. It surely dented his legacy as a bowler, but the legend of being the first superstar of the game grew even further, thanks to his off-field antics.