Let Tait do his thing - Nielsen

Tim Nielsen has ruled out tinkering with Shaun Tait's action despite the bowler being forced to have surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday. However, Nielsen conceded his biggest challenge in taking over as Australia's coach would be to keep his players healthy during an action-packed 18 months.

Speaking at his first official engagement since replacing John Buchanan, the straight-talking Nielsen offered no Buchanan-esque cryptic responses and summarised his vision for a fit, determined squad with strong leadership from the senior players. He was brief and to the point, which seemed entirely appropriate for a man guiding his side through more than 20 Tests in 2008.

"Without a doubt in professional sport that is the biggest challenge - to play at the highest level all the time, at great intensity," Nielsen said. "Technically what [Tait] does so well is bowl fast. We don't want to change that - we've just got to try and work with him to make sure he does minimise his injury risk."

Tait's latest setback has given him a 50-50 chance of playing in the Twenty20 World Championship in September. He has already had shoulder surgery that kept him out of the Super Series in 2005, a back injury last April that stopped him touring Bangladesh, and a hamstring complaint in December, which delayed his ODI debut.

Nielsen said reworking Tait's delivery style would be unlikely to help the bowler or the team. "It's just the volume of work that these young blokes need to adjust to," he said. Nielsen's "young blokes" will play a significant role in Australia's attack in 2007-08. Tait, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson, Cullen Bailey and Dan Cullen are all contracted by Cricket Australia but none has had an extended run in the team.

For some, that could change as of the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, although Nielsen expects few deviations from the group that won the World Cup. "There's young guys like Tait and Johnson who haven't played a lot of one-day cricket," Nielsen said. "And even Michael Clarke got opportunities batting at No. 4, which means that although he's been around for a while he's now got a new role. So it's a bit of a new-look side anyway - I don't think they'll need to make drastic changes."

There are guaranteed to be at least three positions on offer when the Test season starts in November, after Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer retired together. Fresh faces are lining up for the opening and fast-bowling vacancies but Nielsen wants the spin responsibilities in more experienced hands.

"[Bailey and Cullen] probably need a bit more time to develop and that's where we hope [Stuart] MacGill can play a massive role for us," Nielsen said. "He can play for however long he wants and fill those shoes until the young fellows develop enough."

Nielsen was speaking at the Melbourne launch of Cricket Australia's ticketing program for 2007-08, which will again feature a priority buying period for Australian Cricket Family (ACF) members. James Sutherland, CA's chief executive, said he was not expecting similar problems to last year, when the demand for Ashes seats was so intense that many ACF members missed out.

"Being part of the Australian Cricket Family is no absolute guarantee of getting tickets but what it does is it puts you in that priority window when tickets first go on sale to get first crack at it," he said. Sutherland believes that with a record 50 days of international cricket in 2007-08, most fans are unlikely to be disappointed.

Sri Lanka and India will tour Australia for Test and ODI series next season, while New Zealand will also make a brief visit for a limited-overs contest. Fans have until June 24 to register as an ACF member on the CA website and they can buy tickets from July 2. Remaining seats will then go on sale to the general public from August 1.