Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has no apprehensions about teaming Shaun Tait with Brett Lee to create the world’s fastest new ball attack.
MELBOURNE: Australian captain Ricky Ponting has no apprehensions about teaming Shaun Tait with Brett Lee to create the world’s fastest new ball attack even though the two pacemen could be often profligate.
“You can absolutely have both those guys in the one team, and if you put a couple of other steadier guys around them you’d have a pretty awesome attack,” Ponting was quoted as saying by The Australian.
Tait, dubbed ‘The Wild Thing’ due to his extreme pace and dodgy radar, was impressive at the World Cup with 23 wickets, joint second in the tournament tally list. The 24-year-old’s performance meant Australia did not feel the absence of Lee who was out with an ankle injury. “Tait can do a great job for you with the new ball in Test cricket as well as one-day cricket, which is how we used him in the World Cup,” Ponting said.
“He knocks batsmen over. If he gets that new ball swinging and he gets it right, there aren’t many batsmen in the world who are going to be able to keep him out.”
Ponting said that the experienced Lee, at 30 and with 231 Test and 267 one-day wickets, can go some of the way to filling McGrath’s steadying influence.
“Brett is not the out and out strike bowler Taity is at the moment,” Ponting said.
“Brett was that a few years ago, but I think he’s been able to change his whole game around and become economical. He knows how he has to bowl to get certain players out. He’s been able to do that regularly, whereas Taity is going to be that Mr Unpredictable,” Ponting said.
“You could bowl him for just two or three overs up front in Test cricket too and then bring on someone steady like Stuart Clark.”
Certainly Tait is excited about the prospect of opening the bowling with Lee.
“That would be awesome. I remember talking to Brett about opening the bowling with him years ago and that it would be fantastic, hopefully the time comes in the near future,” he said. “If I can work towards that and Brett can come back stronger from his injury, it would be a good thing for the country to watch, I reckon.” Tait also received praise from McGrath himself who quit international cricket after the World Cup.
McGrath said that Tait’s explosive powers were a perfect foil to the steadier variety of Nathan Bracken, Brad Hogg and himself.
“It’s more about how the team came together,” McGrath said. “It allowed Taity the freedom to run in and let it go. If you lose the odd one down leg side it doesn’t matter because the other bowlers are keeping it tight. That’s what makes him a wicket-taker. That little bit of unpredictability, I guess. With the bowlers around him we could carry that and just let him bowl normally. That’s why he took so many wickets.”
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