By IANS
Melbourne : Victorian leg-spinner Bryce McGain may not have made the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test against India, but he was heartened Wednesday on the eve of playing against India in a warm-up game at Junction Oval, with news from skipper Ricky Ponting that he was in contention as late as Tuesday morning, Australian media reports said.
Ponting said he discussed the Test spinner issue with selectors this week, having watched the 35-year-old veteran of only nine first-class games take 3-32 against Tasmania in a Ford Ranger Cup match on Saturday, and McGain’s name “definitely came up”.
He said the decision to include Brad Hogg in the squad and not McGain, who has taken 21 wickets this season in Pura Cup cricket, was due mainly to Hogg’s success in international cricket in recent years.
As he prepared to take on India in Victoria’s three-day clash, McGain said he was encouraged by the news that he was “thereabouts”.