SHAUN Tait, the Australian paceman who endured a nightmare stint with Durham at the end of last season, has since twice improved his career-best figures.

The work Durham's coaches did with 21-year-old Tait in sorting out his run-up has obviously paid dividends for South Australia.

First he took five for 39 against Victoria then followed up with seven for 99 against Queensland in a Pura Cup match last week.

In two County Championship appearances for Durham, Tait took none for 176 in 18 overs, which included 26 no-balls.

The man who preceded him in the Durham team, Zimbabwean all-rounder Andy Blignaut, is faring little better with Tasmania than he did at Riverside.

After taking none for 79 in 12 overs and scoring nine and nought against Western Australia he was dropped for the first home game of the season against Victoria, which started on Monday.

There is better news of next season's Durham captain, Mike Hussey, who top scored in leading Western Australia to a four-run win against Victoria in an ING Cup tie which also featured former Durham players Marcus North and Brad Hodge.

The game was initially reduced from 50 to 24 overs because of rain and North made 11 and Hussey 60 off 57 balls in a total of 128 for seven. After further rain Victoria's target was 108 in 19 overs but they were restricted to 103 for three with Hodge making 28 before being bowled by North, who took two for 15 in three overs.

Another ex-Durham man, New South Wales captain Simon Katich, has expressed his disappointment at being dropped from the Australia team for the first Test against New Zealand at Brisbane, starting on Thursday.

Despite being the third top run-scorer in Australia's first series win in India for 35 years, with an average of 39, he has been replaced by Darren Lehmann.

It is the second time this year Katich has been axed as he was left out of the first two Tests against Sri Lanka in March after scoring 125 and 80 in his previous Test.