Sport - Cricket

McGrath goes batty over bat deal

McGrath's batting is a running joke in the Australian side. During the 2001 Ashes series, just two Australian players were without sponsors' logos on their bats. One currently averages 50.82 in the Test arena, and is just 495 runs short of becoming only the third batsman to pass 10,000 career runs.

The other boasts an average of 6.63 and, after 81 Tests, has just 405 runs.

Steve Waugh in November signed a deal with MRF thought to be worth around A$300,000 ($108,500) a year.

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, Glenn McGrath has been without similar support, until now. McGrath is Australia's leading fast bowler, boasting a tally of 377 dismissals.

Having received extra batting tuition from Waugh, the lanky paceman has been known of late to exhibit the odd orthodox shot, and can hold his end up more reliably than many other Test number 11s.

But he has not reached double figures with the bat for almost a year - a mighty 11 not out while Harbhajan Singh was dismissing eight of his team-mates in Chennai.

An expected deal with bat manufacturers Somers could help bulk out his batting average, though, as well as his wallet.

``The bat is offset by one degree from the handle so instead of me hitting the ball straight in the air, you'll see me hitting it over mid-on and mid-off to the fence,'' McGrath explained. ``The idea is that your hands come through first.'' That's the idea anyway.

The three-year deal is worth an undisclosed sum, with a bonus of $3,500 if McGrath makes a Test half-century.

But that one-degree angle will have to bring a significant improvement if he is to achieve 50, something he has only managed once in first class cricket - for Worcestershire against Nottinghamshire in July 2000.

McGrath realises that his prospective sponsors are happy to be given the occasional name-check in a jokey newspaper article, rather than expecting batting miracles.

``That incentive is always good but I think I've had nearly more stories on my batting than my bowling, so the sponsorship opportunity is certainly there,'' he said.

But, if he ever does have something to celebrate at the crease, perhaps his other sponsors will oblige. McGrath recently took advantage of new ICC regulations and will display a non-manufacturer's logo on the back of his blade, provided by alcohol retailers Downtown Duty Free.

Most Test ducks: 43 Courtney Walsh (WI), 26 Curtly Ambrose (WI), 25 Shane Warne (Aus), 24 Danny Morrison (NZ), 23 Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (Ind), 23 Glenn McGrath (Aus).

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