15 May,2009 06:19 PM IST | | PTI
Out of favour fast bowler Shaun Tait agreed to sacrifice Indian Premier League riches thinking of future rewards but after being denied a central contract he now feels humiliated by Cricket Australia.
Tait believes he was fit enough to play in IPL in South Africa for Rajasthan Royals, but he was restricted by CA medical staff from doing so, thereby depriving him of $3,75,000.
He then suffered the blow of not having his central contract renewed, and was clearly annoyed to be told he was still in the scheme of things despite not being offered a contract.
"When you think you're ready to go and play, I thought they (CA) had me in mind for future tournaments, so that was fair enough at the time, but to not let you go, then not pick you in a squad then not give you a contract is a little bit of a kick in the teeth," Tait said.
However, Australia's National Selection Panel chief Andrew Hilditch said Tait remained in CA's scheme of things and could be considered for the one-day series that follows the Ashes in September but the injury-prone fast bowler wasn't amused by the carrot.
"It's pretty easy for CA to say 'get yourself ready for a tournament' when they haven't given you a contract - I could quite easily duck off to the Greek islands for a couple of months if I wanted to.
"But I'll keep myself fit, keep bowling and if something does come up, well that'd be good."
The pacer was furious on Hilditch's public pronouncement that he took the news well.
"Digger's (Hilditch) trying to sugar-coat that to be honest," he said.
Tait will go to England for a holiday before coming back to South Australia to focus on the limited-overs format.
"It's no secret I'm trying to concentrate on the shorter form of the game and from what's happened yesterday, being dropped off a contract it probably frees me up a bit more to do that," Tait said.
"I'm still going to be hopefully contracted to the SACA here, but I can explore other options with the shorter form of the game. Four-day cricket is a fair way out of my mind at the moment," he was quoted by the Australian Assocaited Press.
His playing future looked like closely tied to the shorter versions of the game, Tait also supported the view of Chris Gayle, who said he "wouldn't be so sad if Test cricket dies and Twenty20 comes in".
"It's a pretty big call coming from a Test captain, pretty amusing really, but I think he's probably spot-on. Two years ago we didn't have those options but now the Twenty20 stuff has really kicked off."
