Diary
Disappointing to miss my first India tour
By Shaun Tait
Sep 24, 2007, 00:25

My rehab is going well. I’ve had three bowling sessions in the last week though at half pace and every time it has got better. Over the next few days I’m hoping to bowl at three-quarter pace and then hopefully soon at full pace.

My routine generally is to have a bowl then have the next day off, or at least have a day off bowling and just train in the gym, working on my fitness. My bowling sessions so far have spanned about three overs. Next week I will look to bowl five overs and I’m also getting more time to have a hit and improve my batting. In between the training I’ve watched some of the rugby World Cup and the Twenty20.

It was disappointing missing out on the Twenty20 World Cup and the India tour but I sort of saw it coming so although it was a blow to miss out it wasn’t the end of the world. My main target is to be match fit well before the first Test against Sri Lanka in Brisbane.

I’ve never been to India before and I was looking forward to going there to play as the cricket culture is so rich. It would have been a fantastic tour to have made but I’m hopeful I will get other opportunities.

In terms of the Twenty20 I’ve watched bits and pieces at home and it was disappointing we got beat in the semis but the guys will be focusing on India now and doing well there.

I still don’t take Twenty20 too seriously. Of course I would have taken it seriously to play in and would have wanted to win every game I played, but as a format generally I agree with what Ricky Ponting had to say recently, that the best-skilled side doesn’t always win because there is too much luck involved.

Before I can start thinking too much about making the Test at the Gabba I have a fair bit of match practice to get under my belt. I don’t want to set any comeback date but the plan will be to turn out in grade cricket for my club Sturt, maybe in two or three weeks, then if all goes well I might play a Pura Cup match for South Australia.
 
After winning the World Cup this year and the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year award this month, I feel more at home amongst the Australia squad now and although I’ve still not played a home Test. I’ve figured in the ODI team a bit now and I’m really excited about making my home Test debut and establishing myself in Test cricket.

The ICC award by the way was a real nice bonus as I didn’t expect that at all. It would have been nice to have been there to pick up my award but I was into my rehab and I couldn’t justify going over for just one night, though I sent a recorded message. All being well, it will be the first of many awards.

But first things first, I will be continuing my hard work to get fit and who knows what might happen.