The Wild Thing: Shaun Tait

I'm fed up with WA filling their attack with eastern states bowlers. Taking players who won't ever play for Aus and letting them fill state team spots at the expense of youngsters really annoys me. It is lazy thinking. How discouraging it must be to play in Perth grade cricket. Nathan Coulter-Nile must have digi pics of someone in the WACA set up to have got a guernsey. And it hasn't exactly worked either. They are mediocre year in, year out. But this is very off-track, I know.

To be fair to the Sandgropers, Bruce Reid deserves a mention, although admittedly his career is getting on for being some time back. During WSC I thought Wayne Clark was underrated. Chris Matthews looked like he could be very good, and was in State cricket, but wasn't able to translate it to Tests. Joe Angel played a couple of tests and was another who was a long term good performer at State level. They have gone for the imports a bit lately though you're right..

In regards Duffield, I haven't seen him first hand but the critics tell me he has 'something'. But it is a bit difficult to tell these days as the Grade scene is so young in Perth and it's my understanding he has played the odd second XI match and impressed. Marsh looks good but it is early days for him too. I guess it depends whether he advances with the pressure of the international scene or goes the other way. His stint at Deccan wouldn't have done him any harm. To be in a multinational environment and playing with Gilly, Gibbs, Laxman et al can't be detrimental.

Vinay, your tenacity is admirable. If he was selected, I'd certainly be watching, so you've got me there!

but Whiteline, even sheer speed needs to be on target. The English slips are probably still thanking their lucky stars Harmison wasn't/isn't Tait's pace in 2006!!

I guess all things being equal, then cut, bounce and swing are 'less' important if you have sheer speed. But.. not even the Windies through the 80s carried a fast bowler because he could give you 7 or 8 overs a day of pace and nothing else. I understand that you are excited by pace and all the supposed fear, excitement and unnkowns but Australia cannot afford to carry him or risk him - no team is good enough to do that let alone the current group. Tait gives you a handful of fun at the start of an ODI and perhaps somewhere in the middle but then he is done - game over! that's why he plays ODI and T20 and NOT test cricket.

Vinay - there's still some controversy about who bowled fastest when. Problem is the tech machines were sometimes suspect. Sami was said to have sent down a 100 MPH ball but then that was discounted only to have him apparently deliver another one at that speed in the same match. Thommo was reputed - repeat, reputed - to have broken that same barrier along, of course, with Tait, Lee and Akhtar. The tech problem first came to prominence when major league pitchers threw through the open window of a US Navy speed-measuring machine, but this machine was found to be faulty. Similarly, Aussie Colin Dibley, who made the Wimbledon quarters twice, was supposed to have hit a legit serve at 140 mph with a wooden racquet which is rather doubtful. Surprisingly, at the last French open, it wasn't Roddick who came up with the biggest serve of the tourney but Verdasco. We can take that as gospel because the clocking is now extremely accurate. For me, there's nothing quite as thrilling as a fast bowling tearing in and using sheer pace to get under the batsman's bat. Sandy Koufax, a marvelous pitcher for the Dodgers circa 1964, used to throw nothing but fast balls and challenge the hitters to tag him. Few did. But then you can always stonewall in cricket while in baseball you have to be patient enough and talented enough to foul ball after ball untill you get one that looks fat.

Yep, agree there. Cricket is a funny old sport. People really can get carried for ages in it, does that happen a lot with other sports? I suppose the fact that you can't sub someone off if they aren't performing leads to the carrying.

One of the really interesting things I heard about Shaun Tait was when Doug Bollinger said that he was 'a breath of fresh air' in the Aussie change rooms when he joined the Aus team for the third ODI v England this year. I thought that spoke volumes about the state of the Aus team and how Bolly feels about his place in it. After all, Tait doesn't appear to be 'one of the boys' by any stretch of the imagination.

Vinay, I'm all for giving people a second chance if they prove worthy. I've nothing against Shaun Tait. If he is the man they want against England or for any other series for that matter then give him a chance to redeem himself.

Vinay The main man was evidently livid with Tait for showing up unfit and disrespecting the 'baggy green' during and after the Perth test... that's the good mail.