Leave MacGill alone

If Stuart MacGill never got cranky there would have been no discussion about his Test place and no spot for Brad Hogg. Bouts of grumpiness are not outlawed in this side, but MacGill's ability for dark moods, which included an outburst and a fine on Australia A's tour of Pakistan, led to his character being over-analysed before he was named in the 13-man squad to face Sri Lanka next week.

If MacGill was a model team player, Hogg would not have been asked to trade his tools of limited-overs containment for five-day strategy and talk of playing four fast bowlers would have stopped. Despite strong support from the coach Tim Nielsen, MacGill has had to undergo a public examination of his temperament even though he was the obvious - and only - choice since Shane Warne helped eased the team management's after-hours stress levels when stepping down after the Ashes.

Coping with a legspinning problem child was de rigueur for Australia over the past 15 years, but the eldest sibling has worn down the tolerance levels for non-conformist behaviour from the rest of the slow-bowling family. Stand Stuart MacGill next to Shane Warne and he is a poster boy.

When riled at state and grade level, MacGill has sworn at batsmen, umpires and misfielding team-mates. In 40 Tests he has been much better behaved, letting the volcano of emotion erupt only when taking a wicket. Off the field with the international team he once had a problem with a casino croupier and John Buchanan's boot camp upset him, mainly because it left him with a knee injury that bothers him more than a year later and resulted in two bouts of surgery. At times over the past six months it has been easy to think some close to the team wished the injury was worse so a tough decision to leave him out could have become a simple one. Times have changed.

Warne's list of indiscretions split nations and households while MacGill's main faults have been his ability to disrupt squad harmony and out-bowl Warne when they played together. Only once did Warne's hefty dossier of misdemeanours cut him from an Australian squad and that was because of a drugs ban. Otherwise his brilliance with the ball gained him immunity.

MacGill's wickets-per-match record of 4.95 is better than Warne's 4.88 and he needs only two victims to reach 200 dismissals. Despite the closeness of the record much less needs to be expected of MacGill, which is why he doesn't need the pressure to alter his behaviour.

At 36 he is not going to change and he has been able to control himself in Tests. This campaign is important for Australia, but without MacGill happy and in form the team will struggle as it makes the transition after losing Warne, McGrath and Langer. It is time to accept MacGill - his fire, wonky knee, 1980s fitness and sloppy fielding - and let him be himself. Being Warne's replacement is hard enough without trying to be someone else.