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Shaun Tait - Lee's Protege |
A Feature by Stephen Brown
The 21 year old Shaun Tait is a breath of fresh
air in Australian cricket, where there is many
fast medium quicks in Australian cricket there
are very few genuine quick bowlers .Shaun Tait
has got no higher praise than from Steve Waugh
who rates him as the quickest and meanest bowler
in first class cricket, and Tait has the
reputation as the bowler batsmen least like to
face. As such it is no surprise that today when
Brett Lee was ruled out of the Srilankan tour,
that Tait was chosen to replace him.
Its been a general tradition in Australian
cricket that genuine bowling prospects are
picked early in their career. Names of pace
bowlers picked early have been Brett Lee, Jason
Gillespie, Glen Mcgrath, Craig Mcdermott, Bruce
Reid, Dennis Lillie, Jeff Thompson and the list
goes on .History suggests that Tait has what it
takes to take the world of international cricket
by storm, and he has the pace and aggression to
do it.
Shaun Tait's expedition
into big time cricket did not start off well
when he was not picked for the last triumphant
Australian youth world cup side 3 years ago.
Nonetheless Shaun Tait pushed on and made his
first class cricket debut last season bowling
125 overs and taking 20 wickets at 22.55, with a
strike rate of 38 and a best bowling effort of 5
for 68. After a good debut season, Tait was
chosen to attend the AIS cricket academy in the
off season.
After many accolades early in the season, Shaun
Tait was given an opportunity against India in a
4-day game for Australia A, Tait bowled 20 overs
and took 3 for 85 and impressed many judges with
his express pace and bounce. Selectors rewarded
Tait again when he played for Australia A
against Zimbabwe, and the Prime Minister's XI
against India. Whilst Tait only took 2 wickets
in both games against Zimbabwe, Tait again
impressed selectors with the Zimbabwe batsmen
particularly not handling the bounce he was able
to get off the wicket, especially Vusimuzi
Sibanda, who struggled against Tait's’ pace and
bounce. Another highlight of Tait's season was
his best one day cricket figures of 9.3 overs
taking 8 for 43 against Tasmania, taking the
last 3 wickets in 4 balls. Tait's first class
figures this season was 231 overs, 30 wickets at
28.33, his one day cricket figures were 73 overs
18 wickets at 19.62 with a strike rate of 24.
With figures like these it was no surprise that
Tait was named rookie player of the year at the
AB medal wards earlier this year.
With Kasprowicz breaking down in the first test,
Tait may add a new baggy green to his selection
in the Australian tour squad, also if Brett Lee
is unfit for Zimbabwe, Tait is likely to be
picked.
Well done Shaun and may the Sri Lankan batsmen
beware of the name Tait.
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