McKay rewarded for hard work
It has been almost 15 months since Clint McKay played his last match for Australia, where he raised the ball to the Gabba crowd after taking his maiden one-day international five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka.
Named earlier this week in the Australian Twenty20 side to face India, his journey back into the national side, by his omission, has made him "a stronger person".
Not long after he ripped through the Sri Lankan top-order, McKay was sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot that saw him miss the majority of the 2010-11 season.
He endured through months of rehabilitation with Victorian strength and conditioning coach David Bailey and the Carlton Football Club.
"Bails has been fantastic, he is second to none and I owe him and the blokes down at Carlton who got me in reasonable shape a lot of credit," McKay said.
"It was a long hard process but it is all worth it now."
After easing into pre-season training, McKay reminded why national selectors rated him so highly when he return career-best figures of 6-40 in Victoria's Sheffield Shield clash against Tasmania in late November.
His changes of pace for the Melbourne Stars in the KFC T20 Big Bash League, where he claimed 11 wickets in eight matches, prompted his call-up and he cites the slower delivery as one of his biggest weapons.
"I worked out a few years ago that I wasn't going to be able to bowl 150km's so I've worked on my slower deliveries and they have become a good asset to me," he said.
McKay's one-day international record of 30 wickets in 15 matches with an average of 21.06 stands without peer in this country and with a good performance for the Twenty20 side next week it shouldn't be too long before he returns to the 50-over side as well.
McKay will be joined in the Twenty20 side by fellow Bushrangers Matthew Wade, David Hussey and Aaron Finch.
Australia play India in two Twenty20s on February 1 at ANZ Stadium and February 3 at the MCG.
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