Two of the quickest bowlers in the world ever, Shaun Tait and Brett Lee have different plans for their immediate cricket future. While Tait, who has been making a re-entry into the Australian team in the shorter format of the game, seems to have overcome his injury troubles, Brett Lee is struggling with his fitness woes and wants to play in next year’s World Cup as his last major tournament.

Lee has been struggling with a series of injuries that saw him last play in December, after he had earlier been ruled out of the series against India in October last year. There have been side strains, an elbow surgery, broken thumb and a muscle strain which has been the cause of all his problems.

Lee said that it would be a great way to finish his career in the 2011 edition of the World Cup in the Indian sub-continent. He has already retired from the Test match variety of the game in order to help him play in the shorter variety.

Tait, on the other hand, has said that while he enjoyed being a part of the side that reached the final of the World T20 and won the last couple of games against England, he will not want to play in the Ashes.

Tait said that it was weird that the Ashes bit was spoken about in the media, because he was not concerned about the Ashes. He added that as a bowler wanting to play in Tests, one needed to bowl in some four-day games before doing that.

Tait said, “It's not just a matter of me saying 'I'll play' and that's it. Ricky and I haven't had that talk and I doubt we will. Australia have plenty of great bowlers and never have a problem with their fast-bowling depth.”

Australia goes into both, the World Cup and the Ashes as favourites to win it. They are 4/1 (Coral) to defend their title that they had won in 2007 in West Indies, with Boylesports’ 4/1 for an Indian win jointly tied as favourites. On the other hand, Stan James offers 8/13 for Australia to win the Ashes, as compared to the 11/4 that BetFred offers for an English win.