The McGain aim

At a time when Australia's leading players have been promised enormous money for a few Twenty20 games in India, one man who could soon join them in the national team is still trying to quit his day job. The retirement of Brad Hogg has suddenly thrust Bryce McGain into the mix for the upcoming tours of Pakistan and West Indies, and if the call-up comes the ANZ Bank had better find another IT product manager.

McGain, 35, who built a successful career looking after the bank's desktop computers, unexpectedly earned his first Cricket Victoria contract this season and found himself double-booked by two employers. "That's just winding up, because you can't do both," he said. "I'm supposed to be working full-time and I've been at work for four days this year."

Understandably, he has had other priorities. McGain is equal fifth on the Pura Cup wicket tally this summer, with 29 victims at 32.13. The country's spin ranks are so slim there is no other slow bowler in the top 15. Hogg's departure and Stuart MacGill's ongoing injury concerns mean the national selectors must either punt on an ageing computer boffin in excellent form, or one of a few younger men with potential but fewer recent successes. If they want a right-arm wristspinner, it's McGain or nobody - no other legspinner is getting full-time state action.

McGain said if the Pakistan tour goes ahead he would be thrilled to receive a call-up, but he remains unsure of where he stands compared to current Test players. "I'd love to be part of it," he said. "It would be interesting to play on those wickets where they're very, very supportive of spin. But when you're outside of that group, the 'big boys' group, you don't know really where you're at. You don't necessarily get a lot of feedback. It's nice to be spoken about if my form warrants getting close to being selected for the next level."

The people doing the talking are good judges, among them Shane Warne, Terry Jenner and Kerry O'Keeffe, who believe McGain should be handed a baggy green. He will be 36 when Australia play their next Test but there are precedents - the legspinner Bob Holland was 38 when he made his Test debut in 1984-85, and Trevor Hohns received his call-up at 35. Unfortunately for McGain, Hohns is no longer on the selection panel and one of his successors, Merv Hughes, is tight-lipped. "He just gives me a big smile and says 'keep taking wickets', in his own special way," McGain said. "You know you're on the right track."

Fifteen years in Melbourne's club cricket put McGain on that path. His first-class debut came at 29 and his career consisted of three Pura Cup games until late last summer. Rather than considering himself unlucky to have been a Victorian legspinner in the Warne era, McGain believes his lack of opportunities is actually an advantage now a position is vacant. "I'm feeling really fresh, physically," he said. "Most first-class cricketers at 35 have had the workload of ten years of cricket and I haven't. Hopefully I've got a lot of years to come."

Not that he hasn't worked. Hard. As he watched his Prahran team-mates David Hussey, Jon Moss and Jason Arnberger get regular state action for years, he kept toiling away to fine-tune his own skills. McGain has all the legspinner's weapons - the flipper, the wrong'un, the topspinner - but they get employed about as often as Kerry O'Keeffe's hair dryer.

"Of all the different deliveries, and it's nice to have all the tricks, it's often just a slower legspinner that gets the wickets," McGain said. "Mine's probably around control, accuracy and subtle variations in pace and spin. I'm not always trying to spin the ball enormous amounts but I've always got that gear to go to."

McGain is tall and lean, and he sneaks up with a quick and economical approach to the crease. Whereas Cameron White bounces in as if he's wearing pogo boots, McGain stays close to the ground, almost hiding from the batsman. His drift is deceptive and his turn is restrained, but his biggest strength is knowing precisely where he will pitch the ball. Long hops and full-tosses are rare.

That control has made him not only a valuable Pura Cup bowler but also a surprisingly effective one-day and Twenty20 option, and he almost turned the FR Cup final single-handedly with a late spell of 3 for 11. He was one of four men to top the one-day wicket tally this season, with 15 at 24.40 and his economy-rate, 4.25, was the best of them all. "This time last year I was just happy to get back in the team and play a couple of four-day games," he said. "It's been a big year for me. I wasn't in any calculations to play one-day cricket and certainly not Twenty20. It's been satisfying to play all those games."

It has also been a rewarding year for McGain's eight-year-old son Liam. Away from cricket, much of McGain's time is spent with the boy, who comes to watch his father play at the MCG and sees him on the television. "It's been a great six months. There's been an enormous amount of change in my life, and in his life," McGain said. "He's really enjoying the notoriety around school, that his dad plays cricket for the Bushrangers."

His dad could soon be playing for Australia. McGain sat down with Warne earlier this year to ask his advice on first-class bowling. Since then they have stayed in touch through Warne's favourite medium - text messaging. When Warne quit there was major debate over who would replace him in the Test team, and few considered who would fill his gap at Victoria. They might turn out to be the same person.