THE wickets and menacing spin were not there, but the bowling radar certainly was as Test aspirant Bryce McGain made his long-anticipated return to cricket yesterday after shoulder surgery.

The Victorian leg spinner played his first match in four months for Prahran in the country round of Victoria's Premier Cricket competition. Playing against Melbourne at Warrion, about two hours south-west of Melbourne, McGain bowled without result for nine overs for figures of 0-59 as the Demons coasted home with nine wickets in hand.

"It wasn't totally terrible and it wasn't outstanding either - it was somewhere in between," the 36-year-old said afterwards. "I was happy that I didn't bowl a whole lot of rubbish."

Three other Australian representatives - Brad Hodge, Adam Dale and Shane Harwood - took part in the match on a pristinely manicured ground in front of about 300 spectators.

McGain did not get a bat as Prahran notched 8-219 off 50 overs.

With Hodge not scheduled to bat until No 4 in the Melbourne innings, the main excitement came at 3.50pm at 1-85, when McGain was tossed the ball in the 22nd over. His first ball was slapped back over his head for a boundary.

"What's the worst thing that can happen? Your first ball gets hit for four. Big deal - you just get on with it," McGain said afterwards.

That's exactly what McGain did in that over and for his subsequent eight overs. His line and length was tidy, only dropping short two or three times in his entire spell.

"I think they just put away the half-loose ball and put it to the fence," McGain said.

But there was some encouragement in his eighth over, when two well-placed wrong-uns deceived the batsman but were too good to catch an edge.

McGain will fly to Canberra today to play for Victorian's second XI against the ACT, in a match starting tomorrow.