Aussies waiting on McGrath

AUSTRALIA are hoping their bowling attack is not a case of out with the old and in with the new when the fourth npower Ashes Test begins at Trent Bridge tomorrow.

Veteran Glenn McGrath faces the prospect of missing his second match of the series through injury, which would be a major loss to an Australian team given fresh impetus with the inclusion of Shaun Tait.

Pace bowler Tait, 22, makes his international debut after ousting Michael Kasprowicz in the tussle for the spot created by the out-of-sorts Jason Gillespie’s omission.

Having clung on to reach the penultimate match of the campaign at 1-1, the Australians underwent a tactical re-think last week to include Tait - genuinely hostile but unproven in the spotlight - alongside seasoned duo Shane Warne and McGrath, whose participation is now threatened by a sore right elbow.

“He noticed a little bit of soreness in his elbow after the fourth day of the last Test match,” said physio Errol Alcott.

“Next day batting, and thereafter there were no real problems, but in the game with Northamptonshire he bowled a bouncer and felt sharp pain and has since developed symptoms and weakness with the joint.

“We’d like more time, of course, but we are confident he is responding to treatment.”

Kasprowicz is on stand-by, with Australia putting off any decision until this morning.

England have become accustomed to the menace of McGrath and leg-spinner Shane Warne, who claims he has been suffering lower back stiffness in the past couple of days.

But Tait, set to be his country’s 392nd Test cap, offers a completely different challenge - given his slingy style and sheer speed.

“A lot of their players would not have seen him at all - and with the unusual action he has, he might surprise a few people,” said captain Ricky Ponting.

“He has that knack of being able to bowl certain deliveries to knock batsmen over.”

England have scored at a rate of 4.01 runs-per-over in the series, meeting most punishment on Gillespie and Kasprowicz.

Tait had an unhappy spell as a Durham overseas player last summer before returning home and sending 65 Pura Cup victims packing a few months later - a haul just two short of the all-time record.

Tait has a reputation for roughing up batsmen, having left Northamptonshire opener Tim Roberts with five stitches in a head wound at the weekend.

So far it has been England who have left the cuts and bruises. But Tait said: “We give it out to them; they will give it back to us. That is all part of the game - every team does it.”

His bowling style does not allow batsmen a view of the ball virtually until release. “It just came naturally,” Tait said. “People say it is similar to Jeff Thomson. But he was before my time, and I never really saw him bowl.”

England are expected to be unchanged for the fourth test in-a-row.

ENGLAND (from): Vaughan (capt), Trescothick, Strauss, Bell, Pietersen, Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), Giles, Hoggard, S Jones, Harmison, Tremlett.

AUSTRALIA (from): Ponting (capt), Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist (wkt), Warne, Lee, McGrath, Tait, Kasprowicz.