Lee expresses confidence in Aussie bowling

Brisbane, Feb 3 (UNI) Dissappointed by Shaun Tait's absence from cricket, Australia pace spearhead Brett Lee reposed faith in the new look bowling line-up and said his team has the depth in bowling to cope against best batsmen.

''It's not nice that we haven't got Shaun to pick from,'' Lee said.

''But we have got a great bowling squad including Clark and Ashley Noffke, who bowled very well. The talent is around and we've got heaps of depth.'' Australia unleashed a fresh pace attack against the Indians at Brisbane in the opening match of the CB series and responded well to dismiss the famed batting line-up for just 194.

Lee has been leading the bowling ever since Glen McGrath and Shane Warne retired from international cricket and has performed exceptionally well for the World Champions.

He bowled a fiery spell at Brisbane against India and returned with figures of five for 27.

''I have bowled a lot of balls this summer and my workload has increased a fair bit,'' he said.

''We'll have to wait and see [about a rest]. I'm looking forward to playing in Sydney and we'll see what happens after that,'' he added.

The 31-year-old pacer was impressed with the way Ashley Noffke who came in place of Stuart Clark as the latter could not play because of family reasons. Lee was confident that Noffke would be a useful addition to the squad.

''It's always hard in your first game,'' he said. ''After his first couple of overs he was rushing through a little bit and we had a chat and a laugh and he was fine.

''The way he's played over the past couple of seasons, he's a great find for Australian cricket, not only with the ball, but also with the bat. He's a fantastic allrounder and can do some great things for Australia,'' he added.

Lee's heroics in the opening match were washed away with rain as the match was abandoned with both the teams sharing two points each.

However, when the match was called off it was evenly poised with the hosts reeling at 38 for three wickets.

''It would have been a good fight from us to get home from there,'' Lee said. ''With our batting we would have had a good chance, but it was disappointing the rain came,'' he said.

UNI XC RAR AM KP1944