Showing posts with label limited-overs series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label limited-overs series. Show all posts

Shaun Tait to elbow his way back in Australian squad

SHAUN Tait is back, and "The Wild Thing" wants to rough up England while booking his passage to the subcontinent for cricket's World Cup.

South Australian Tait will use the Twenty20 Big Bash as his comeback from elbow surgery and platform for national recall in the limited-overs series against England, starting in mid-January.

Tait terrorised England's batsmen during the one-day series in England last July and wants a repeat performance.

"I think after what has happened in the Ashes, fans are looking forward to the limited-overs series, and hopefully we can stitch them up again," said Tait, who bowled the fastest ball (161.1km/h) by an Australian when he took 4/48 against England at Lord's in July.

Australia trailed the winter one-day series 2-0, but Tait was drafted into the team and took eight wickets at 12 to help Australia regain ground before losing the series 3-2.

"I am obviously looking forward to getting back into the Big Bash, get some form for the Redbacks and hopefully get back into the Australian team for the Twenty20s (January 12 and 14) then the one-day series (starting January 16 in Melbourne).

"It will have been three months since the operation by the time I play against New South Wales on Tuesday in Adelaide. It has all gone to plan, which is good. I will always have some pain, but it's manageable."

Tait was Ricky Ponting's shock weapon in Australia's 2007 World Cup triumph in the Caribbean with 23 wickets at 20 and wants to be part of a fourth consecutive World Cup with NSW veteran Brett Lee as his strike partner.

"If myself and Brett are fit, that would be a pretty decent combination," Tait said.

Beaten Aussie Test men fly home

Australia's beaten Test players will fly home on Thursday while a pared back limited overs squad prepares to face India in three matches.

Captain Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson have all been rested from the series, while Test match specialists Simon Katich, Peter George and Marcus North are also on their way to home ports.

"We played very, very well for the majority of the first Test. We played pretty well for the majority of this Test match," said Ponting.

The one-day series will provide a challenge for vice-captain Michael Clarke, who made only 35 runs from four completed innings in the Test series.

It will also offer a chance for Nathan Hauritz to repair some of the damage.

rest frontline players Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha during the limited-overs series.

They will also be without the Delhi trio of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma due to injuries.

The three-match series will be held at Kochi (October 17), Vizag (October 20) and Margao, Goa (October 24).