Shaun William Tait (born 22 February 1983 in Nairne, South Australia) is a professional Australian cricketer, who currently plays only in the Twenty20 format. Tait plays in the Big Bash League for the Hobart Hurricanes and has represented Australia at Twenty20 International level; he has also represented his country in One Day Internationals and Test matches. He is a right arm fast bowler. Tait retired from One Day International cricket on 28 March 2011, following Australia's early exit from the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Tait's delivery action is a sling style that is reminiscent of former Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson's action. Dubbed "The Wild Thing", Tait is considered one of the fastest bowlers in the world and regularly delivers the ball at speeds up to 155 km/h, and occasionally faster. At T20 international on 5 February 2010 against Pakistan Tait bowled a ball measured at 160.7 km/h, the fastest ball ever recorded in Australia.[10][11] His fastest ball was against England at Lords at 161.1kph (100.1 mph) in 2010, which is equal second fastest of all time behind Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar and fastest amongst active bowlers as of 3 January 2015.[12][13][14][15] Despite his speed, Tait has often been described as "erratic" and is capable of bowling many extras,[16] though his unpredictability can be a positive factor in dismissing batsmen and his strike rate confirms this.[17] Tait has also been criticised as being "expensive."[18]
After a Twenty20 match against New Zealand on 11 December 2007, in which Tait troubled the batsmen and took 2/22,[19] New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and coach John Bracewell publicly raised doubts over the legality of Tait's bowling action.[20] Tait labelled the comments as a "disgrace" and added that he'd be willing to undergo tests to prove his action is legal.[21]