Tait still three months from bowling

Shaun Tait is aiming to play South Australia's first game of 2008-09 even though he is still three months away from returning to the bowling crease. Tait walked away from cricket indefinitely in January, citing physical and emotional exhaustion, and has not bowled a ball since then apart from backyard cricket with his mates.

He joined the Australian squad for their training camp in Brisbane during the past week but according to his rehabilitation schedule he will be purely working on weights and gym fitness over the next three months, with no bowling on the cards. Tait said although he is working "around the clock", he knows a return to the international scene could be some way off.

"At the moment it's pretty simple - just get back playing with the SACAs," Tait told the Weekend Australian. "[The Australian selectors] know what I can do, so as soon as I'm back to bowling full pace it'd be nice to be picked."

Tait said his decision to leave the game following his unimpressive return to Test cricket at the WACA was based mainly on his struggling body and he did not intend the departure to be permanent. "My body was in pretty bad shape really," Tait said.

"Training, games, even waking up in the morning after games off, it was sore. The body was sore and I took a break. It was as simple as that. It was always in the back of my mind that I'd come back and play cricket at some point."

While he is hoping to come back from the start of next season in October, Tait knows that it might help his body, and his bowling prospects, if he takes a leaf out of Brett Lee's book and sacrifices a little speed for the sake of accuracy and consistency. "I can probably take some of that on board," Tait said. "I can probably be a bit smarter and not bowl at 160kph every time."