Shaun Tait unlucky to miss out in this series .

[DarkKnight]

Waugh's warning was right "When you least expect it, cricket comes back and bites you" and history is going to repeat itself just as it did in calcutta after 16 wins in a row . Similarly , We also lost the ashes in 2005 after 16 years of winning and if this type of trend continues even in One day internationals , then future doesnt look too good either and i fear the worst.

We may lose the next world cup in 2015 in 1999-2015 = 16 years or maybe in 2011 ,since we lost the last final in 1996 which is almost 16 years before the 2011 , history repeating itself

16 happens to be our unlucky number .

[acker]

Yep

And perhaps some ways India selected its team prior to this. I think 3 paceman and 1 spinner or 2 spinners dropping a batsman might be back big time.

[Warne]

The thing that bothered me abouit Tait that he was not as fast as he was against the kiwis. If he consisitently bowled over 150 kph, I won't have any issues with him being a bit wayward. This much pace would have troubled Indians without a doubt. Remember so was Lee in his initial days. Probably the Perth heat did him in, Tait was not looking 100% match-fit to me.

[Warne]

Another worry has been the no. of extras conceded, I expect a lot more disciplined effort from the Aussie bowlers.

[greg]

21 overs for 92 without a wicket shows how good Tait is.

[sanketh84]

yeah i think the aussies are plagued by the number 16 just as DarkKnight said, and look at the coincidences it was laxman back in 2001 and its him again making the difference between a target of 325-330 and 400+. It was india that beat australia in australia 5 years back. I think Steve Waugh is such a great thinker of the game, and that statement says it all...cricket comes back to bite you when u least expect it!!! Indians had reached the world cup finals in 2003 and a first round exit in 2007 came to bite them when they least expected...losing against bangladesh to be thrown out in the first round!!! The game is such a great leveller...the mighty West Indies team of the 70's is now a ghost of the past. I hope there are more teams which will raise their game to compete and beat the aussies few more times in the future, this would be more encouraging than watching a world cup where the aussie team has more than an 85% chance of winning it.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by Beny

Tait has always been ordinary[...]Tait bowls not much faster than Lee or Johnson but without the accuracy.

Are you not making the same mistake here that most made over Lee Beny - not that long ago posters were saying that Lee "chucked pies" on this forum, and many other forums.

Now you are making his a role model for other like Tait to follow - what Tait needs IMO is a little faith from the selectors and supporters - and time to bowl himself into so sort of form.

In 2003 Flintoff was wrote of a "fat" and useless - yet when fit ranks with the best bowlers in the world TODAY, Australia ignore Tait at their peril.
Personaly I hope Tail is not playing against England in 2009, and England play Mahmood as a wild card - given that Flintoff would be back with Strauss - a missing Tait would make the odds 50/50 IMO.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Ernest

what Tait needs IMO is a little faith from the selectors and supporters - and time to bowl himself into so sort of form

Selectors at some level of cricket will undoubtedly give him games... and sufficient time to sort his act out - but whilst the likes of Clark, Johnson, Bracken and Lee are around and fit and bowling better than him... there's really no call for him to be doing that development work in the Test arena.

[Quagmire]

Tait looked injured again, he looked to be struggling when he was running into bowl. He also had none of his normal rhythm.

[darksideofthemoon]

It looks as if Tait will get the ODIs and Johnson the Tests for now.