Tait takes things slow in one-day return

Shaun Tait will wait until Christmas before deciding whether his body can cope with anything more than limited-overs games for South Australia. Tait makes his state comeback from a series of injuries, which were combined with problems of mental fatigue, against Tasmania in Adelaide on Sunday and will focus on 50-over fixtures until the domestic Twenty20 tournament begins in December.

South Australia have six FR Cup contests before then, giving Tait a chance to gauge form, fitness and motivation. At top speed Tait is one of the most destructive bowlers in the game, but last season he battled a long-term hamstring injury and stepped down for the second time in two summers. This time he is taking a slower approach after his return from mental exhaustion in 2008 ended in more setbacks to a body that is both strong and fragile.

"I'm not going to make any announcements or anything like that [about playing first-class cricket]," he said in Adelaide. "I'm just going to see how the body goes before Christmas. Before Christmas time I'll be concentrating on one-dayers and Twenty20s and see what happens after that."

Tait, 26, has played three Tests and 22 ODIs, including being part of the 2007 World Cup victory, but is a long way from rejoining the squad. "I'd like to be there next week but that's not going to happen," he said. "Hopefully I do well for the SACAs, I haven't thought too much about the Australian team, so I will see how we go Sunday. If I can stay on the park on Sunday I'll see what happens."

He met with South Australian officials at the end of last season and told them he wanted a lighter load and would focus on the shorter forms of the game. During an eventful winter he was prevented from playing in the IPL by Cricket Australia, who didn't originally offer him a contract, but handed one out when Andrew Symonds' deal was terminated.

He said he was not under pressure from state or country to increase his playing duties. "It's the best thing for my body at this stage and it's get through the first half of the season and see what happens," he said. Tait played for Sturt, his club side, last weekend and was part of South Australia's squad preparations for the summer, although he picked up a virus during the camp in Queensland.

All Mark Sorell, the South Australia coach, wants from Tait is him bowling as fast as he can. "He's been raring to go for a while," Sorell said. While Tait is back to full fitness, the Redbacks have lost Chris Duval (stomach) and Mark Cleary (lower back) for a couple of weeks.

Tasmania, who lost the opening Sheffield Shield game between the teams on Friday, welcome back the wicketkeeper Tim Paine from his first experience with Australia's one-day team. Paine played 13 matches, scoring 389 runs, including 111 in Nottingham, and collected 21 dismissals. However, his and Ben Hilfenhaus' appearances with the state are brief as they will head to India on Monday for a seven-ODI series.

South Australia squad James Smith, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Mark Cosgrove, Dan Christian, Tom Cooper, Aaron O'Brien, Cameron Borgas, Graham Manou (capt, wk), Jake Haberfield, Peter George, Shaun Tait.

Tasmania squad Tim Paine (wk), Ed Cowan, Michael Dighton, Travis Birt, George Bailey (capt), Luke Butterworth, Jason Krejza, James Faulkner, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Brett Geeves, Ben Hilfenhaus.