MELBOURNE: Retired from Test cricket
but desperate to save his ODI and Twenty20 career, injury-plagued Australian
speedster Brett Lee says he plans to test his fitness and pace in the upcoming
Indian Premier League.
"There are many things I want to achieve in
the shorter form of the game. One, the Twenty20 world cup for Australia; and
two, the 50-over World Cup for Australia in India. I want to be a part of that,"
Lee, who recently retired from Test cricket, said.
"I've been working
very, very closely with Patrick Farhart, he's been my physio for 16 years, and
he's happy with the way it's progressing. I'm looking to be up to full pace
within a couple of weeks," Lee told the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
The
33-year-old paceman said his Test retirement will let him spend time with his
young son Preston Charles Lee.
"It was a lifestyle choice through
having a young son. I don't want to be away 11 months of the year," he
said.
Lee, who plays for Kings XI Punjab, is not sure whether he
would be able to bowl as fast as he did before injury but is confident of making
a good comeback to cricket.
"Unfortunately or fortunately --
whichever way you look at it -- I've had a few operations now so I really know
what you've got to do after it. If it was the first one then I'd be a little bit
nervous but I've been through it before so I know what I have to do," Lee
said.
"It doesn't make it [physically] any easier but it just makes
the mental side of things a little bit more relaxed," Lee said.
Lee,
who was named in the preliminary 30-man Australian squad for the World Twenty20
Championship in the West Indies, said he is ready to withdraw from the
international tournament if his body or performance were not up to mark in the
IPL.
"You've got to be bowling well and bowling fast. If I can't get
back and bowl the way I want to, whether it's through [bowling with] pace or
through pain, I won't play. But I don't think that will be the case, I'm
confident my body will stand up to it," he said.
"I've got nothing to
prove, I'm no out there to prove that I'm bigger and better than ever. I'm just
going to keep trying to bowl quick and if I can do the business on the field and
still enjoy my cricket that will make me very proud," he added.
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