Shaun Tait

Shaun Tait

Australia

Full name Shaun William Tait
Born February 22, 1983, Bedford Park, Adelaide, South Australia
Current age 24 years 7 days
Major teams Australia, Durham, South Australia
Nickname Sloon
Playing role Bowler
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Height 1.93 m

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	2	3	2	8	4	8.00	27	29.62	0	0	1	0	0	0
ODIs	4	1	0	11	11	11.00	10	110.00	0	0	1	1	0	0
First-class	43	61	26	443	68	12.65	869	50.97	0	2			10	0
List A	42	19	10	59	22*	6.55	103	57.28	0	0			7	0
Twenty20	5	3	2	39	14*	39.00	38	102.63	0	0			1	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	2	288	210	5	3/97	3/121	42.00	4.37	57.60	0	0	0
ODIs	4	234	218	5	2/60	2/60	43.60	5.58	46.80	0	0	0
First-class	43	7838	4756	174	7/99		27.33	3.64	45.04	17	6	0
List A	42	2144	1745	76	8/43	8/43	22.96	4.88	28.21	4	2	0
Twenty20	5	104	116	9	4/14	4/14	12.88	6.69	11.55	1	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	England v Australia at Nottingham - Aug 25-29, 2005
Last Test	England v Australia at The Oval - Sep 8-12, 2005
ODI debut	Australia v England at Sydney - Feb 2, 2007
Last ODI	New Zealand v Australia at Hamilton - Feb 20, 2007
First-class span	2002/03 - 2006/07
List A span	2002/03 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2004/05 - 2006/07

Notes

Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year - 2004

Profile

Shaun Tait's shoulder-strong action slung him on to the 2005 Ashes tour, where he played two Tests ahead of his more celebrated South Australia team-mate Jason Gillespie, but it soon disrupted his quest for further international impact. With a muscular and unrefined method that seems to invite pain, Tait returned from England buoyed by his promotion only to hurt himself in a grade match and the subsequent shoulder surgery forced him out for the rest of the year. Fortunately he experienced no damage to his frightening pace stores, although he was surprised how easily his thunderbolts disappeared at Trent Bridge and The Oval.

Despite the injuries - a back problem suffered in the nets ended his trip to South Africa and a hamstring complaint delayed his ODI entry - his old-fashioned approach of yorkers and bumpers mixed with a modern dose of sharp reverse-swing has excited followers who cross fingers Tait and Lee can be the 21st century's version of Lillee and Thomson. "That's what I've had in the back of my mind as well," he said when asked if the pair could replicate the 1970s icons. To confirm the point he even shines the ball across his chest and finished his first Test day with a splash of red on his shirt as well as the wickets of Marcus Trescothick and Ian Bell. Unlike his tearaway predecessors, he can't live without his Playstation 2.

The Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year in 2003-04, Tait also picked up the ING Cup's Best New Talent prize, chiefly for his 8 for 43 against Tasmania, the best figures in domestic limited-overs history. When Lee was injured Tait was taken as a development player on the Sri Lanka tour, where he introduced himself to the newly installed captain Ricky Ponting in the nets by hitting him in the head with a bouncer. His early beginnings might have been spicy, but his follow-up year was even tastier with 65 first-class wickets in ten matches. An abbreviated 2005-06 included 6 for 41 in the ING Cup Final, which included an amazing combination of spot-on speed and 14 wides, and he backed up the following season to earn his first start in the national one-day side.

In two matches he showed his range, giving up 2 for 68 and 1 for 26 from his ten overs, and clocked 160kph. It won him a World Cup spot and proved Dennis Lillee's belief he "has all the resources to stick the ball right up the noses of the batsmen". A child of the Adelaide Hills, he received his best advice at the age of seven when his father suggested he play cricket.