By IANS
Adelaide : Fast-bowling mentor Troy Cooley wants Australia to be patient with Shaun Tait despite the paceman’s forgettable return to Test cricket in Perth.
Cooley said Monday that he was not perturbed about India’s claim to have the best swing bowlers in the world, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
While the conditions for the fourth Test in Adelaide, where spin is expected to be a bigger factor, are likely to deprive Tait of a Test in his native South Australia, Cooley believes the powerful 24-year-old has a big future in the longest form of the game.
“He is young and he’s cutting his way at the moment,” Cooley said. “We have seen how damaging he can be when everything fires. You don’t throw away 150, 160kmh bowlers, you hang in there. Give him some time and he will work it out. He’s a good bowler and a good lad.”
Tait lacked rhythm at the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, where he was the fourth paceman, and bowled 21 wicketless overs with the Australians under pressure to lift their over rate.
“He hasn’t lost heart,” Cooley added. “He is a champion, and he will find a way to get back in the middle and produce the spells we know he can produce.”
Cooley said he was unaware of the claim by Indian bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad that the Indians were the world’s finest exponents of swing bowling
“I’m not going to worry about that,” he said. “They kept a good seam position throughout the Test match, which was good. We probably tend to hit the deck a bit harder, but they really bowled well [in] the conditions, and all credit to them.”
Cooley said Mitchell Johnson was developing well and getting better at bowling an inswinger, a dangerous weapon for left-arm quicks. “I think he’s flying,” he said. “I think he has been unlucky. He has been doing a job out in the middle and working with Brett Lee really well. He’s shown he is going to be a solid foundation of this team. They [Johnson and Tait] are both pretty new on the scene.”
The Test wicket prepared by Adelaide Oval curator Les Burdett is expected to command the return of wrist spinner Brad Hogg. “I’ll keep my nose out of selection, but I will say that an Adelaide pitch will take turn as the game progresses,” Burdett said.