MacGill attacks, Watson defends Buchanan

Stuart MacGill is the latest player to come out and criticise former Australia coach John Buchanan, supporting Michael Clarke's savage assessment of the dual World Cup-winning mentor.

Clarke, writing in the latest edition of his Captain's Diary series, slammed Buchanan, claiming his dog Jerry could have coached Australia's team of champions to "world domination".

MacGill shares Clarke's views, saying Buchanan was "lucky" he had a team with brimming with Hall of Fame talent.

"I haven’t met Michael Clarke’s dog, but I have met John Buchanan," MacGill told Fox Sports. "And I don’t see that he had too many skills that made him stand out among coaches around the planet.

"The best coach I ever had was Trevor Bayliss here (at NSW Blues), and we’ve seen what he can do in the UK. John Buchanan’s not a patch on him.

"I can’t even say he was a great administrator.

"I think that John Buchanan was very lucky to be involved in a cricket team that had probably three of the greatest of all time, you know; (Glenn) McGrath, (Shane) Warne and in the captaincy role there’s Steve Waugh. That’s probably good fortune." 

Image Id: ~/media/B90D7A5753A9409E82477739474D0DBF

Buchanan, Clarke and Symonds after claiming the 2007 World Cup // Getty Images

Buchanan took over Australian cricket's top job in 1999, replacing Geoff Marsh in the role.

Under the tall Queenslander's watch, Australia won a world-record 16 consecutive Test matches, beat India in India for the first time in 35 years, captured two World Cup titles and the Ashes on three occasions.

Leaping to Buchanan's defence is Australia limited-overs allrounder Shane Watson.

Watson debuted while Buchanan was at the helm and said while his former coach might not have helped his teammates with their on-field skills, it was his management of the galaxy of stars – and their egos – in the Australian setup that contributed to the profound success.

"That (Clarke's attack on Buchanan) was incredibly harsh,” Watson told Fox Sports.

"I sit back and see what John Buchanan did and how he was able to keep those strong very personalities and strong egos that were in and around the team, and the majority of them were, and kept them moving in the same direction

"And looking back now, he’s got an incredible skill to be able to do that.

"So it didn’t mean that he was helping people with their cover drive and Glenn McGrath with his bowling but he was certainly able to move the team in the right direction and that’s the reason why they were able to perform consistently like they did."