By IANS
Melbourne : Troubled Australian tearway Shaun Tait who quit cricket for an indefinite period, citing exhaustion and stress-related condition during the summer, is ready for a comeback.
Tait, 24, buoyed by support from former England opener Marcus Trescothick and Australian Football League (AFL) stars is back in boot camp training at his father’s Adelaide Hills property.
The South Australian is targeting a return by the start of the 2008-09 first-class season.
Tait’s manager Andrew McRitchie said veteran batsman Trescothick, who withdrew from England’s 2006-07 Ashes, with a depression-related issue had been helping the youngster.
“Marcus’s message was ‘Hang in there and just realise there is more to life than playing international cricket’,” McRitchie was quoted as saying in The Courier Mail.
“Marcus also went through a tough time in a high-profile situation,” he said.
Several AFL figures have offered Tait support. Current and former Kangaroos Nathan Thompson and Wayne Schwass have been high-profile victims of stress disorders.
“There has been fantastic support from some of the AFL boys and other sportsmen,” McRitchie said.
McRitchie said Tait could “quite possibly” put his hand up in readiness for the Australia’s tour to West Indies in May but the fact he hasn’t played any cricket would probably be held against him. “We expect he will be ready to go by game one next season,” McRitchie said.
Tait’s outlook has improved markedly in the past three weeks. He has returned to the Adelaide Oval change-rooms — first to mark batsman Matthew Elliott’s final game for South Australia, then on the occasion of former Australian keeper Adam Gilchrist’s final one-day outing.
“Shaun is thinking about what he has to do to get back to playing at the highest level, which is a good sign,” McRitchie said.
“If you think back to the time he first stepped away, none of those things were in his sights and now they are.
“He wants to be back playing but knows he has a bit of work to do,” he said.