Tait wants more speed

Shaun Tait wasted no time after being picked in a 13-man Test squad to outline his plans for the future - he is desperate to become Australia's fastest bowler. While Brett Lee currently holds the place, Tait, who reached 153kph during the Prime Minister's XI game last Friday, wants to continue to accelerate.

"I'd like to be labelled the fastest bowler in the country at some point in my career," Tait said in The Australian. "I've always wanted to be labelled as a fast, feared bowler, but as you get older you realise you're never going to be a permanent member of the Australian team just by bowling fast. You have to bowl in the right areas and take wickets."

Tait is jostling with Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark for the third bowling spot in the first Test at the Gabba on Thursday and the other two bowlers were also celebrating their selection. Johnson said he would use Brett Lee, who became a father for the first time on Thursday, as a mentor during the week as he aimed to make his debut on his home ground.

"Brett has been there for me, I'm learning about him and I'm learning about myself as well," Johnson said in The Courier-Mail. "When we are in the nets I feel very comfortable going up to him if I'm finding it hard.

"If he's working on something it will make me work harder as well." On a day of family announcements as well as team news, Johnson also showed off his new girlfriend, the Australian karate representative Jessica Bratich.

In Sydney Stuart Clark, the line-and-length option compared to his two speed rivals, said he was not sure what was going to happen over the next week as the trio pushes to partner McGrath, Lee, Warne and Watson. "Someone is going to have to miss out and hopefully it's not me," he said in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Maybe it is [a shoot-out], maybe it isn't. I'm assuming they'll look at the wicket and then they'll look at what sort of attack they want to go with and maybe that will have something to do with it as well. I'm a chance to play but the other guys are as well."

Ricky Ponting said he was looking forward to facing the bowlers in the nets to see how they were going and he expected the final decision to be a close call. "We've got a reasonable amount of time in the lead-up so I and the rest of the batsmen will have a really good chance to get a look at those guys and see what they've got to offer," he said. "I guess we can have a look at the conditions up there as well and see what they might have to offer. There might be something in that wicket that might suit one of the bowlers more than the others."