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BASSETERRE, St Kitts - Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait has taken a significant step towards filling the gaping hole left by the injured Brett Lee with his performance in the final World Cup warm-up game against England.
Ricky Ponting used Tait in three spells in the England innings on Friday and the 24-year-old responded with four for 33 from 8.3 overs.
Tait started with an inswinging yorker to dismiss Ed Joyce, returned in the middle of the innings to account for Kevin Pietersen, England's most dangerous batsman, and came on again at end to finish the innings with two quick wickets.
He was genuinely quick at the start of the innings, moving the new ball in the air, and was then equally dangerous at the death when the ball began to reverse swing.
After starting the previous match against Zimbabwe with two wides it was a performance to gladden Ponting's heart as he searches for the right combination of bowlers to defend the World Cup.
"I sat down before the first game and I had a bit of a chat with Shaun about how he was going to be used," Ponting told reporters. "He showed England just how effective he can be.
"If he gets everything right and bowls the way he can, he's not only a wicket-taker but a very good container as well."
Lee was sidelined last month through an ankle injury.
England captain Michael Vaughan, who survived Tait's hostile opening spell with skill and a little luck, was also impressed.
"He bowled pretty quick and I think towards the end he got the ball reversing. He's a newcomer on the world stage but if you bowl at that kind of pace obviously you are going to be a threat.
"He's going to be a threat, particularly if he starts reversing the ball."
Reverse swing was devised in Pakistan where the abrasive pitches quickly remove the shine from the ball and make conventional swing impossible. It is an art which could prove invaluable in the Caribbean.
Tait has played only two tests and four one-day internationals, partly because of successive shoulder, back and hamstring injuries resulting from his vigorous body action which can generate extreme pace but which also can result in the ball flying wide of the wicket.
"A couple of games I've played for Australia in the past I've been quite nervous," he said. "But today I was quite happy.
"I am a lot more relaxed and a lot more comfortable with the new ball. If I can jag a wicket with the new rock, I have done my job.
"Whether I am the spearhead is another story but if I am selected to play, whether I am opening the bowling or first change or whatever, then I am going to do the job I am asked and I hope to do it well."
Australia open their World Cup Group A campaign on Wednesday against Scotland and then face the Netherlands (March 18) and South Africa (March 24).
- REUTERS
