Kuala Lumpur: Besides a sniper's accuracy, Glenn McGrath has a larrikin's sense of tongue-in-cheek humour. While the former virtue wasn't evident early on his comeback game — he rectified it soon enough — the latter was on prime display as he nodded sagely, sitting beside his skipper, and tackled a beast not as acquiescent as some of the batsmen he has come up against: the press.

Excerpts:

On Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar: My whole career I have enjoyed bowling to guys who are the best in the world. Sachin and Lara are two of those guys. Didn't get a chance to bowl at Lara the other night, now I can see how I go against Sachin. And I am looking forward to it. Sachin is a class player. The way I started the other night (four wides to left-handers) was perfect to a right-hander. He has got a 140 under his belt, so I guess he is due to fail in this game.

On his role as mentor to the young quicks: I don't know if I am good at it. But I get along well with the young quicks and they keep me fresh. I haven't spent a great deal of time with them just chatting to them on working their game out and seeing actually how much they know about their game. And that is the most important thing whether it is a game situation or at net. They keep me on my toes and they are running in and bowling 140 and 150 plus so I don't try to match them. But later in the season I will — let's see how it works.

On the track: We will see how the wicket is. The other night when we played the West Indies it was a bit up and down.

On his comeback: I went to the crease pretty well. All that I have been working on has been coming into play. For the start of the season I was pretty happy with that.

On when he'll be back to his best: Hopefully not too long. With each game I keep improving that is what I want to achieve.

On being out for a while: As you grow older in your career you think that you could be remembered. Becoming a father as well has put things in perspective. At the end of the day we play cricket because we love it. As long as you keep things in perspective.

On the importance of aggression: Being a fast bowler one needs to be aggressive. Anyway so there is a line I have made that I don't cross too often. But Ricky wouldn't want me skipping around after bowling half-volleys and smiling when I get hit for four.

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