Lee , ready for the battle

Somewhere in the English provinces right now are two modestly talented opening batsmen who are about to face the world's fastest bowler.

Brett Lee arrived in England two days ago, all smiles as usual. He is not here to play in the one-day series but to improve his match fitness in the lead-up to the first Test, which begins on July 5. This is the final stage of a rapid recovery from surgery on a broken elbow that kept him out of Australia's tour to India earlier this year.

Lee said the surgery may result in him gaining speed rather than losing it. Wonderful news for Australia, but not for England's batsmen so soon after their collapse on Monday to lose in the second Test against Pakistan.

As part of that fitness program, the Australian tour management is hoping to find Lee a game or two with a county seconds side or a league club. And every cricket team in the world has two somewhat masochistic opening batsmen. The two who will face Lee, even a gentle Lee, will either react in horror, or hope they survive to tell their grandchildren.

Even more than his accommodating teammates had the day before, Lee charmed the local media with his first interview of this tour at Lord's on Tuesday.

After all, to the English, Lee is the archetypal Aussie lad - blond, good looking with a flashing smile, a part-time pop star in a cricketers' band who happens to have bowled the fastest official delivery ever recorded electronically, a 157kmh bullet in a one-day international in Johannesburg in April last year.

Lee's short Test career promises much. In seven Tests he has taken 42 wickets at 16.07. A rate of six a match is brilliant and, although he probably will not sustain it over time, it does suggests that the "once in a lifetime" tag Steve Waugh has given Lee is no overstatement.

Lee had two screws inserted in his right elbow after breaking it in a fielding accident during last summer's one-day series. The operation straightened an arm that had been slightly bent since a teenage accident and some faulty medical advice.

This may have been why the legitimacy of Lee's action was queried during Australia's tour of New Zealand in March last year.

Lee said he is physically fit but not match fit and that the surgery has left his arm stronger. "For the last 13 or 14 weeks it's just got stronger and stronger," he said. "Come the first Test I'll be ready to go. I'm pretty close now. I'm fit but I'm not match fit.

"It feels 10 times stronger than what it has been over the last seven years. There is a chance I might be able to throw the ball a little bit harder and bowl a little bit quicker."

Lee said he had not radically altered his bowling action because of the injury or the throwing doubts, but had been fine-tuning it with Dennis Lillee.

Otherwise Lee was full of enthusiasm for the coming Ashes series, his first full cricket visit to England.

"It's a new experience for me and one that I'm going to cherish. That's the cream of the crop as far as cricket goes. To get the chance to play over here in front of packed crowds would be great.

"I'm pretty toey about getting a game."

DESPITE its disappointing loss to second division Middlesex at Lord's on Tuesday, Australia will rest three key players from today's last warm-up match before Saturday's one-day clash against Pakistan.

Captain Steve Waugh, his brother Mark and leg-spinner Shane Warne will be rested from the match against Northamptonshire.

Fast bowler Nathan Bracken will rest a slight shoulder strain but is expected to be available for selection for the first game against Pakistan and Sunday's match against England.

Australia made 232 against Middlesex but could not break through the county's top order, eventually losing by six wickets with 17 balls left of the 50 overs.

Despite the defeat, vice-captain Adam Gilchrist said: "There were plenty of positives to come out of yesterday. Ian Harvey (84 off 65 balls) will gain a great deal out of it. Ricky (Ponting, 57 off 47) hit the ball really well."