Unleash Tait at Poms – Chappelli

Writing in the London Daily Telegraph, Chappell compared Tait with a young Jeff Thomson, who set the 1974-75 Ashes series alight with a frightening performance of electric speed in Brisbane before going on to claim over 30 wickets in the series.

“Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee were always certain selections for the Gabba but I would round out the Australian pace attack with the explosive Shaun Tait,” Chappell wrote. “Lee and Tait, L & T, pace and more pace. My mind wanders back to 1974-75 when another L & T combination, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, pace and more pace, produced a Brisbane blitz that quickly changed the dynamics of an Ashes series” Chappell wrote.

“The Gabba is the fastest and bounciest pitch in Australia and that is the ground where the Lee and Tait combination is most likely to work.”

The former Test skipper wrote that using Lee and Tait would also help Shane Warne, as the alternative of selecting Stuart Clark meant the England batsmen would be forced to attack Warne, which Chappell regards as the best way to combat the champion leg spinner. “However, play Tait instead of Clark and this means the balance is in favour of aggressive pace bowling and the requirement to score quickly off Warne won’t be so great; push and prod at the leg spinner with a bit of bounce in the pitch and batting life expectancy recedes faster than Brisbane’s twilight.”