I ve never rated Clint McKay. Never.
Every time I see him on the Australian team sheet I think it s a weakened team. And it goes back farther than that, when he played for Victoria in the old days I felt the same way.
For years I d be one of seven people at the G watching him for Victoria and telling the other six people that I didn t rate him. Only for one of them to point out that he d taken 4 for 60.
I should love Clint McKay. I should talk him up in random conversations and wear a t-shirt that just has his face on it. Clint McKay grew up 15 minutes from where I did. We should share a Northern Suburbs of Melbourne bond.
Instead of complaining about him I should be worshipping his head-swaying run-up, fetishising his good lengths and eagerly anticipating his back of the hand slower ball.
A friend of mine had heard McKay might be their team s overseas player and wanted to know about him. All I had for them was that he was tall and had a good slower ball. I could give them no more information of a guy who I ve seen bowl probably 40 times.
To be honest, I don t think I ve ever seen McKay not take wickets. But somehow I never seem to remember how he took them. They just appear over and over again.
He s just one of those bowlers who takes wickets. In 18 ODIs, Mckay has 38 wickets at just under 20. That s the sort of numbers that make any sort of preconceived perception sort of irrelevant.
And as I was writing this, he was Australia s only bowler who looked like taking wickets. And then he was the only Australian bowler to be hit on to the cathedral by MS Dhoni, before following up with a waist-high no ball.
I ve always felt that when someone hits McKay the ball goes further. He doesn t get hit for small sixes, or gentle fours, people just hit him really hard. That could even be the whole reason I have had this thing against him.
Wickets are good, but everyone remembers the big hits.
That will probably be the case here again. McKay s three wickets were handy, but I d think more people will talk about how Dhoni almost killed spectators who were over a hundred metres away to win the game.
People are fickle like that.