some murky news emerge on the kidnap of famous Aussie leg-spinner

Carpal tunnel syndrome, also called median nerve compression, is a condition that causes numbness, tingling, or weakness in  hand. It happens because of pressure on one’s median nerve, which runs the length of your arm, goes through a passage in  wrist called the carpal tunnel, and ends in  hand.

Remember this leg-spinner playing against us in India’s tour of Australia in 2003 and on the boxing Test at Melbourne 2003, Virender Sehwag scored a magnificent  195 that threatened to bury the opposition under the MCG turf while it lasted.  The leggie took 3 wickets in the first innings.   An old-fashioned operator with a gargantuan legbreak and majestic wrong'un, Stuart MacGill had the best strike-rate and worst luck of any modern spin bowler. His misfortune was to play alongside Shane Warne in an age when Australia, the land of Grimmett and O'Reilly, paradoxically frowned on the concept of fielding two wrist-spinners at once.  MacGill,   struggled on his return to the Australia side against Sri Lanka in 2007 and was diagnosed with carpal-tunnel syndrome. His wrist required surgery and despite hard-working attempts to regain his previous powers, he was not the same bowler.

In 2015 Australian leg-spinner Stuart MacGill  left rattled everyone with his $2.6 million case against Cricket Australia. MacGill issued a writ against CA  claiming that CA  owed $1.6 million in match payments and prizemoney, and almost $1 million in interest, plus costs. MacGill, who played 44 Tests and claimed 208 wickets at 29.01, had claimed CA had neglected or failed to pay him injury payments over a two-year period from May 2008 when he was unable to play Test cricket because of injury.  In the writ, MacGill said CA had signed him for one year and offered him a further one-year contract for 2008-09 campaign before he was "incapable" of playing as a result of "injuries and complications from injuries".  .. .. a  couple of years later, it was stated that he  reached a confidential settlement as both parties resorted to mediation.

He is in news again this time as a victim of kidnapping.  Australian police have  arrested four men in dawn raids on Wednesday in connection with the alleged kidnap and assault of former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill. Reports said MacGill, 50, was allegedly abducted from near his home in Sydney on April 14 and taken to another part of the city where he was beaten and threatened with a gun.

"About 8pm on Wednesday 14 April 2021, a 50-year-old man was allegedly confronted by a 46-year-old man near the intersection of Parraween and Winne Streets at Cremornee," New South Wales Police said in a statement that did not identify the victim. "A short time later the pair were approached by two other men, forcing the older man into a vehicle. "He was then driven to a property at Bringelly, where the two men, plus another unknown man, allegedly assaulted the 50-year-old man and threatened him with a firearm. About an hour later, the man was driven to the Belmore area and released."

Police said the incident had been reported on April 20, prompting an investigation by the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad. "Strike force detectives, with assistance from Raptor Squad and the Public Order and Riot Squad, arrested four men - aged 27, 29, 42 and 46 - from 6am today," the police statement added. A subsequent statement confirmed charges had been laid against the four men. All four men were refused bail to appear at Sutherland Local Court on Wednesday.

Additional details on the kidnap later stated that it was connected  with his girlfriend’s brother arrested who was  following the shocking attack on Sydney’s north shore.  That person is alleged to be Marino Sotiropoulos – the brother of Mr MacGill’s recent partner Maria O’Meagher according to The Age, who is the owner of Aristotle’s restaurant in Neutral Bay, where the former leg-spin bowler works as General manager.

Todd Greenberg, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association, said the organisation had reached out to MacGill. "Stuart is a wonderful former Australian cricketer and a member of the ACA," he said. "My primary concern for Stuart today is his wellbeing and for him personally. We've reached out to him in a variety of different forms through relationships through the game and my primary message to Stuart is we want to make sure he is okay. Outside of that there is really not much more I can add."

MacGill played 44 Tests for Australia between 1998 and 2008 and probably would have earned many more caps had his career not coincided with that of Shane Warne.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
5.5.2021