Australia s selectors have admitted they have taken a gamble on Brett Lee s fitness by naming the fast bowler in their squad for next month s ICC World Twenty20 in England.
Lee, who uses a Woodworm cricket bats, has been named in the 15 man squad despite not playing any competitive cricket since he broke down in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa with ankle and foot injuries.
But Lee is close to regaining full fitness again and is currently in the United Arab Emirates with Australia where his recovery is being monitored by the national team s medical staff.
Lee s inclusion in the Twenty20 squad suggests that he is also likely to be named in Australia s squad for this summer s Ashes series in England. The Ashes squad is due to be named later this month along with a new list of Cricket Australia s 25 contracted players.
We looked long and hard as to whether Brett would be available for the Twenty20 World Cup, said Australia chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch.
That s one of the reasons why we wanted him to come to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, to have a look at him, to train with the group.
He s still going to have a fair bit of work to do before the Twenty20 World Cup starts.
He s going to play on Thursday night but to be quite frank, we expect him to take several Twenty20 matches with cricket equipment to get his rhythm back because he s going to be a bit rusty.
Given the tournament is still a month away, there s no question he s going to be fit. He just needs to get some bowling into him.
There was a lot of discussion as to whether this was the right way to bring him back into cricket or not.
It was Brett s view and also the coaching staff that it was the right way to go not only for this tournament but also leading into the Ashes. It s a bit of a risk but we believe it s a calculated risk to go down this path.
The Ashes squad hasn t been picked yet but we looked long and hard at getting Brett ready through the Twenty20 World Cup for the Ashes. We think it s the best way to go. So here we have good opportunity for this. Ashes is always have own prestige as well Twenty20 World Cup has own, so here very difficult to select which one is on priority and as a individual player you can t say which tournament is best. According to me both are best, two different types of cricket and both are much successful and hope for always.
It s not ideal. It would have been better if he had played more cricket before now. The coaching staff will set up a program for him during the Twenty20 tournament and if he is in the (Ashes) squad, he will be doing extra training outside what is required for Twenty20.
Whoever is picked in the (Ashes) squad, the two warm up matches before the first Test will be very important.
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