The sorcerer's apprentice officially became a partner in the business yesterday, effectively grinding England's hopes of a drawn series into the dust of the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch. Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill: SCG. Perhaps we should have seen the omens in the initials.
On a pitch that by the end of the second day was not so much turning as revolving like a Black and Decker, Mac Gill, sometime Minor Counties bowler, sometime larrikin, produced the finest figures of a brief Test career that got off the ground only on the strength of Shane Warne's shoulder injury, taking five for 57 in just over 20 overs of waspish, fizzing leg-spin.
As Glenn McGrath's huge buckets took the catch that gave MacGill his fifth wicket and finished the England first innings, Warne himself trotted over to MacGill and put an arm round his shoulder. There is not a jealous bone in his body. And this, do not forget, was supposed to be his glorious homecoming to international cricket. It got precisely the start it wanted, too, a wicket coming with his fourth ball back, just as the scriptwriters would have it. But that was as far as it went: 20-4-67-1 was his return. He was out-bowled.
MacGill, in only his eighth Test, has now taken 40 wickets at 24.5 apiece, a strike rate that compares favourably with any of the great bowlers. Warne by contrast, though he remains indisputably the finest and most charismatic spinner to have played the game, managed only 14 in his first eight matches, costing a shade under 50 runs apiece. MacGill, from unpromising beginnings at the start of the series, has become a serious player on the world stage.
After a frenetic, high-octane first day - with marvellous and surely decisive batting from the Waugh twins, Steve and Mark, sandwiched between Dean Headley's inspirational bowling and above all Darren Gough's fantastic hat-trick finale - it would have been fanciful to suggest that the second day might possess quite the same verve.
Already there had been some sharp turn, most notably from Mark Ramprakash - who, in the absence of a second front-line spinner to accompany Such, was given his longest bowl of the tour - so any substantial England response to Australia's adequate 322 would require stoical resistance, some calculated aggression and a good slice of luck.
They did not make the best fist of things. Six of the first seven batsmen batted for an hour or thereabouts (Nasser Hussain for the best part of three hours for his 42) but none made more than John Crawley's 44. All out for 220 meant a first-innings deficit of 102, increased in the seven overs available to Mark Taylor and Michael Slater before stumps by 13.
The start was not auspicious, with Alec Stewart - loser of his fifth toss of the series on Saturday and, after Adelaide, the second really crucial one - slicing McGrath extravagantly to third slip when he might more prudently have ignored the widish delivery, and Mark Butcher, having played the seam and spin well for 1 1/2 hours, going back to Warne's fourth ball (having hit the previous one with panache over mid-wicket) and departing lbw.
Lunch, taken at 82 for two, meant an even first session. But the afternoon belonged to Australia. It began when McGrath removed Ramprakash who, after a relatively untroubled and aggressive 52 minutes, had taken him up to almost 20 hours for the series, mistimed a drive gently to mid-off.
Hussain and Hick then added 49 for the fourth wicket in what proved to be the highest partnership of the day. All series Hussain has found MacGill's googly unreadable but he has worked out a method of playing him. Hick, though, has been more forthright, capable more than any other England batsman of taking full toll of any loose deliveries. Warne in particular was accorded some rough treatment, with the pulled flipper followed by a six driven massively over long off. Eleven off the over.
At the other end, however, MacGill had been posing more searching problems, although in 11 overs since he came on for the 13th of the innings he had gone wicket-less. His 12th and next proved more successful, though, for after Hick had bludgeoned a short ball through extra cover, he attempted to repeat the shot and mistimed a catch to Warne at short extra-cover.
On a day for selling wickets dearly it was the second soft dismissal in four. Hussain immediately followed - caught by Mark Waugh as he poked a bat-and-pad catch from Colin Miller, in off-spin mode, to silly point - and at 139 for five the wall was already covered in graffiti.
