The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Lee’s selection may prove costly: Lawson

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Lee’s selection may prove costly: Lawson

Melbourne: Former Australia cricketer Geoff Lawson has rated Brett Lee as the country’s last-choice bowler and said the inclusion of the pacer in the Ashes squad may prove costly for Ricky Ponting’s side when the five-Test series commences next month.

Lawson feels that 32-year-old Lee’s current form is not upto Test standard and he could prove a liability in Australia’s bid to avenge its 2005 Ashes loss in England.

Interesting selection

“It doesn’t add up and it might come back to bite them. Lee would have been dropped if he hadn’t been injured (last year). He hasn’t been in form for 18 months, going on two years, so it’s an interesting selection to put him in when he’s got no form and no match practice,” Lawson said.

“You just look at his figures the last 18 months; they’re not overly impressive at all. They’re hardly adequate for an international bowler,” he added.

Lawson thinks playing in Twenty20 format can’t make a cricketer ready for the five-day version of the game and so Lee taking three wickets for 95 runs in two games (eight overs) in the T20 World Cup can’t guarantee that he will do well in the Ashes.

“You can’t play Twenty20 cricket and expect that it’s a testing ground for Test cricket, it’s not going to happen. He’s underdone,” Lawson was quoted as saying by the Sunday Telegraph.

“He’s only been bowling four-over cricket, and not very successfully, since he’s come back from his injury. I think he’s physically fit, but you’ve got to be match fit. He’s not swinging the ball (and) international batsmen seem to be playing him a lot easier,” Lawson said.

According to the 51-year-old former fast bowler, the Australian selectors should have considered left-arm pacer Doug Bollinger rather than gambling on Lee.

“Leaving Doug Bollinger out of the squad, you’ve left out an outstanding left-arm fast bowler, who’s in form, for a right-hand guy coming back from injury and you don’t know how he’s bowling,” he said. — PTI

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