THANKFULLY my wife Sue is expecting our fourth child because after our net session at Trent Bridge earlier in the week, I’m not sure whether I have the capacity to sire any more children. As we were preparing for the Test, Shaun Tait decided this was the opportunity to impress our chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns. With the energy you might expect from a young man in a hurry, he came in off his long run and gave me a vicious workout.

His first ball was a fast in-swinging yorker which sent my middle stump flying. The second was another lightning fast inswinger which used my protective box as the first point of contact. To say there is no worse feeling is an understatement and after coughing and spluttering a few expletives, I felt the only honourable thing to do was to take guard for some more punishment.

Before facing up to delivery No 3 I checked to see everything was still in place, only to find my box had been smashed into smithereens. If that deep, gut wrenching pain wasn’t enough, the prospect of facing the next ball without some new protection was enough to make a grown man surrender.

Call it silly pride, but the thought of letting our young tearaway get on top of me gave me enough motivation to grit my teeth and stand up for another shot. The next ball thudded into my left forearm, spitting off a good length and flying into my body.

After only three balls, it was apparent Tait was ripe and ready to be picked for his country and as we saw in the first innings there is plenty to get excited about. He has genuine raw pace and has the ability to swing the ball. He is keen and eager to learn and, while we didn’t get to see it on Thursday, he has the capacity to reverse swing the ball when the conditions are conducive.

His has been something of a meteoric rise. I remember a couple of years ago facing this raw youngster as one of our net bowlers before an Adelaide Oval Test. Back then there were a few raised eyebrows from my teammates who had trouble getting used to his unusual action. Even after adjusting to his low slingshot style, the batsmen still had to find an answer for his pace.

There are few worse things than facing very fast bowling in the nets. Even against medium pace you can feel confined to a shrinking space, so when the fastest of bowlers charges in and lets go the really quick stuff, the butterflies feel more like eagles in your stomach. Often it seems as though everything is being played in fast forward as your mind plays tricks as you wait for the bouncer that is never very far away.

Some batsmen steer clear of facing such bowling, suggesting they practice to improve their confidence rather than have it shattered by a fast bowler whistling new balls around their ears. The argument is that they don’t want to have their footwork pattern and confidence ruined by standing in a net trying to simply survive.

My thinking is different.

I believe facing extreme conditions gives you the confidence to stand up to anything that may come your way in a game scenario. Sure there were times like last Tuesday when Tait made a mockery of my batting ability, but overall I have felt the benefits of such tough workouts far outweigh the disadvantages.

Like in a game, the important thing is that everybody is friends at the end of it all. Our net sessions are always competitive and while I didn’t enjoy being worked over by the youngest member of our touring squad we had a laugh and a hug at the end of it. Although I was a little bruised and battered, I was delighted to see first hand what opposition batsmen can expect in the future.

Not only is Tait an outstanding prospect; he is also an outstanding young man. With his talent, distinct bowling style and ability to fit into the team, there is no reason why Tait won’t join other baggy greens who have become household names over the years.

As we have seen in this series, young players who do things a differently tend to become the most sought after properties in the sport. Our Michael Clarke and your Freddie Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen are all the rage at the moment because they are backing up a sponsor-attractive image with entertaining and aggressive cricket ability.

While Shaun may not have the fancy coloured hair, the diamond earrings or the extraverted personality, he does have one very important characteristic that the cricket loving public tend to cling on to. That trait is an ability to bowl fast.

But as for me — maybe I was practising against the wrong sort of bowler. All that hard work against pace and yesterday I get out to spin.