Lee will have to fight for his place in Ashes squad: Paper

Abu Dhabi, May 1 (ANI): While Australian fast bowler Brett has already stated on his website that he is ready to assume the lead role for the Ashes Tests, The Age newspaper feels he needs to get out of the bubble that he is living in and look at the real world that is about to confront him.

"Simply, the No.1 bowler for Australia is Mitchell Johnson. The heat that this guy is bowling is frightening. On the recent tour of South Africa, I honestly thought I was watching an old tape of the great West Indies bowlers, creating havoc everywhere they bowled.

In that Test series against the Proteas, Mitch was hitting batsmen all over their bodies. I was mesmerised by his ferocity and bounce. I thought he would seriously hurt someone. And I loved it. It was compelling viewing for any cricket fan," says the paper's columnist.

He further goes on to say that Australia now has quite a balanced Test line-up for the Ashes tour.

Johnson will bowl serious pace and worry all of England's batsmen. Stuart Clarke will keep things tight and bowl stump-to-stump, similar to Terry Alderman. Peter Siddle is improving on every outing, bowls with serious pace and bowls well to left handers. And Ben Hilfenhaus will swing the ball around and is Australia's best secret because England has not seen him.

"So where does Lee fit in? Well, he has played 10 Tests in England with miserable figures of 29 wickets at an expensive average of 46. He has never taken 10 wickets or more in a Test and I just can't remember when he has seriously turned a match on its ear. The only two teams he has hurt in his career are Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Everyone else has had some fun with him," claims the paper.

The question that arises is whether Lee is a better bowler than Craig McDermott, Merv Hughes, Jeff Thomson or Rodney Hogg?

"You have to say no, surely? Their records against top-quality teams were awesome. I always wanted my quicks to be snarly and ugly. Running in hard and creating hostility to all batsmen. I want to see some facial hair and pent-up aggression. I want my fast bowlers to be quite happy to hurt some batsmen before they get them out. I don't like my quicks singing to 74-year-olds, doing music clips for their latest single," says the columnist.

"Lee says his record of 300 wickets in Tests and ODIs will speak for itself. He is ready to bowl faster than ever before. He says he is ready to assume the leadership role of the

Australian attack. The problem here for me is that he never earned that role in the first place," the columnist concludes. (ANI)