da bet7： PERTH – Australian cricket selectors might be tempted to impose tearawayBrett Lee on the fragile English batting lineup on a WACA pitch whichcould be the fastest in 20 years.
Tom Wald25-Nov-2002PERTH – Australian cricket selectors might be tempted to impose tearawayBrett Lee on the fragile English batting lineup on a WACA pitch whichcould be the fastest in 20 years.While incumbent Andy Bichel is still favoured for the third paceman’sspot for the third Ashes Test starting Friday, Lee has an imposingrecord at the famed fast bowling paradise.Lee, one of the quickest bowlers on the planet, has taken 15 wickets at19.6 in his two Test appearances in the west and has been in career-bestform at first-class level.”We have potential for the fastest Test pitch since the early 80s,” headcurator Richard Winter wrote in Cricket WA magazine.That can only aid Lee press for a recall after Bichel played in theopening two Ashes Tests this summer.It was a devastating bowling display for NSW at the WACA three summersago which elevated Lee to his Test debut against India in the Boxing DayTest in Melbourne.Bowling with frightening pace and swing Lee broke WA tail-ender JoAngel’s arm as the Blues claimed a rare outright victory in WesternAustralia.The 32-year-old Bichel has taken five wickets at just over 36 againstEngland in the Test series having missed out bowling in the tourists’second innings capitulation at the Gabba.But while the statistics don’t make great reading he took key wicketsduring the Adelaide Test including opener Michael Vaughan at the end ofthe first day.Speedster Lee meanwhile has responded to his demotion with 21 wicketsfrom two Pura Cup matches.With weather expected to remain fine and warm this week, Winter expectedit to be a good deck on which to bat first.”It will still be a good pitch to bat on first, whoever survives thefirst two sessions will do well on it,” he said.Already trailing 2-0 in the five Test series, England returns to Perthtomorrow facing its eighth successive Ashes series defeat.And the road doesn’t get any easy for the tourists with Australia’sopening bowling combination of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespieexpected to extract every bit of bounce from the WACA pitch.In its opening tour matches, two England bowlers found success on theWACA pitch but one has been ruled out of the series (Simon Jones), andthe other is under a serious injury cloud (Andy Caddick) with a backproblem.