Australia careful about rushing Lee back into squad

London, July 22(ANI): Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee's Ashes tour is balanced on a knife edge as Australia's team management does not want to risk playing the injured paceman in a tour match.

Australian coach Tim Nielsen has insisted that they would be careful while handling Lee and would not be rushing him back into the squad.

"We've got to be careful we don't go down that path. We've got three Tests left in this series. There's a lot of cricket. We just need to make sure we don't panic and we don't rush him back too quickly, with the result being he's not quite right and he puts himself out for the rest of the series," The Courier-Mail quoted Nielsen, as saying.We'd rather give him every chance we possibly can to be right and having an impact at his best," he added.

Nielsen further highlighted that Lee would have to undergo a fitness test, following which it would be decided whether to allow him to play in a three-day tour match at Northampton on Friday.

"He hasn't bowled yet so we've just got to sit with the medical staff over the next couple of days and have a chat about whether it (the tour match) would progress him to the stage where he could play in the third Test" he said.

Nielsen has also said that the team management would be very careful with Lee, as they don't want him to break down again with a side strain that has kept him out of the first two Tests.

"My feelings are that if it means he's not going to be able to play in the third Test we're going to have to be really careful at rushing him back. History shows that if you have those types of injuries and do them again," Nielsen added. (ANI)