Shaun Tait belongs in the bracket of Jeff Thompson, Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar and others, who instilled fear with their outright pace bowling. Tait, aka The Wild Thing, who did not have a successful career, with injuries being a major problem for the speedster, has now decided to retire from all forms of the game.
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Tait made headlines with his pace and slinging action when he first made his Test debut against England in 2005. But he didn't have a long Test career, and only played three Test matches, picking up five wickets. Tait played 35 ODIs and 21 T20s for Australia, but could never seal a permanent place in the nation's squad.
Tait was, however, a member of the 2007 World Cup-winning team, which he would cherish for the rest of his life. Had Tait not been troubled by injuries, he could have been one of the most feared bowlers in world cricket. The Australian once bowled a delivery at an incredible pace -- 161.1km/h against England in 2010, and regularly bowled at 150 km/h.
Though he suffered from many injuries, it was the one that affected his elbow that led to his retirement. With the game being played at a quicker note these days, Tait, 34, felt it would be difficult to compete with youngsters.
"I knew it was going to be difficult getting older to compete with the young blokes. But I didn't know it was going to be as difficult as it was this year (with the Hurricanes). Pretty much getting left out of the side or not being able to play because of my elbow, either way there's no point going on with it," Cricket Australia's official website quoted Tait as saying.
"The elbow has pretty much gone off a cliff now, it's done and dusted. I'm 34 years old and I suppose when you're not contributing on the field as much as you'd like to, it's time to finish up. It would have been nice to play another year maybe, but there's no point getting more surgery and play when I'm 35 when I'm probably not up to it anymore."
"If I was still performing really well, I'd probably do it (have surgery and keep playing). But I just wasn't."
Tait, besides featuring in Australian domestic circuit, also played in the IPL (Rajasthan Royals) and Pakistan Super League (Peshawar Zalmi). The Wild Thing last played for Australia against India in January 2016 in a T20 match at SCG, where he opened the bowling for Australia, but failed to take any wicket.
