Nottingham Day One: Tait á Tait

When Tait begins to bowl the batsman trembles at the knees,
The ball comes humming down the pitch just like a hive of bees,
The other day the bails went flying right out to the gate,
The batsman smiled a sickly smile and whispered "Tait á Tait".

- Jack Lumsdaine, "So This Is Cricket", 1932
(OK, so he was actually talking about Maurice Tate)

Lillee, Thomson, Tait? It's a bit damn early for those sort of comparisons I think, but nonetheless Shaun Tait's first day as Australian cap #392 was a decent enough start. Though, it must be said of a day in which only sixty overs were possible, England is on top at 229 for 4.

I first became aware of Tait when he ripped through Queensland's top order in a Pura Cup game for South Australia at the Adelaide Oval in February 2003. At the time Paul Rofe was seen as the South Australian pace bowler most likely to be the Next Big Thing for Australian cricket, but while Rofe had McGrathesque accuracy, Tait had pace - and still does.

Tait is certainly a better bowler than his two championship appearances for Dynamo Durham in 2004 indicated (12-0-113-0, w 2, nb 21 against Somerset and 6-0-63-0, nb 5 against Essex). After a no-ballless (torture your spellcheck with that one!) tour game against Worcestershire last week, Tait bowled no-balls 27 to 30 on English soil yesterday. Lee (16-1-75-0, nb 7) and Kasprowicz (18-2-56-0, nb 11) were the real Four n'Twenty Delivery Boys yesterday.

CricInfo has the Arthur Murray Dance Chart of Tait's bowling on Day One, and it shows how he got his length under control in his second session of the day, claiming the wickets of Trecothick and Bell for his trouble.

The other special mention for the day belongs to Michael Vaughan, who joins Asanka Gurusinha, Jimmy Adams, Moin Khan and Ridley Jacobs in that Pantheon of Legends being the five Test wickets taken by Ricky Ponting. (Here's those first four.)

A short day Thursday, so the Midwinter-Midwinter points for Day One are: 2 pts - Marcus Trescothick, 1 pt - Michael Vaughan.