An ex-Australian Test cricketer will be forking over the big bucks hiring a top criminal barrister to help him torpedo a drug supply conviction.
Former legspinner Stuart MacGill was a regular user of cocaine when he introduced his dealer to another man in April 2021.
The 54-year-old knew the quantity of cocaine exchanged was worth $330,000, but did not know the exact weight after being told the dealer wanted "a brick".
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A jury convicted the former cricketer of taking part in a drug supply before MacGill was sentenced to a 22-month intensive corrections order and 495 hours of community service.
He has launched a legal challenge to both the conviction and the sentence in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.
Today, the matter came briefly before the court, where Registrar Peter Clayton noted MacGill had retained a "heavy hitter" barrister.
Dominic Toomey SC has more than 30 years of legal experience, becoming a silk in 2015.
He has represented Guy Sebastian's former manager, Titus Day, who overturned his fraud convictions, plus ex-teacher Helga Lam, who dodged paying compensation to students she allegedly abused decades ago.
A one-day appeal for MacGill's challenge has been set for May 1.
In seeking to overturn his conviction, the ex-cricketer contends that evidence showing he had specific tendencies, including giving his dealer's number to others, should never have been shown to the jury.
At trial, jurors were told the 54-year-old's habit of handing out the number meant it was more likely he would engage in drug supply.
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His challenge to his sentence claims Judge Nicole Noman erred when determining the exact quantity of drugs MacGill thought was being exchanged.
MacGill did not receive any of the $330,000 but had $1000 of drug debts wiped by his dealer.
The lucrative cocaine deal put him on the path to his assault in a dilapidated rural shed after his dealer stole two bricks of cocaine in a subsequent drug ripoff.
Once viewed as one of the world's top spin bowlers, the now-54-year-old is on JobSeeker while working as a casual cricket coach.
He retired from cricket in 2008 after a career where he was forced to play second-fiddle to the sport's greatest legspinner, Shane Warne, two years his senior.
MacGilll played 44 Tests, claiming 208 wickets at an average of 29.02.
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