Lee to Play Through the Pain
Brett Lee welcomed his inclusion in Australia's ODI squad for the next two matches of the tri-series with India and Sri Lanka, insisting that he is not ready to be sidelined again.
Rather than rest Lee, who is currently struggling with a toe injury, the selectors instead omitted fellow fast bowler Mitchell Starc and returned Ryan Harris to the ranks. Ben Hilfenhaus, who on Sunday landed his first five-wicket haul in ODI cricket as the Aussies beat the Indians by 110 runs, kept his place in the squad.
Prepared to play through the pain in a bid to build on the four wickets he has secured in the series thus far, the right-armer admitted that his drive to represent Australia will be enough to stave off the discomfort of his injury.
"It's amazing what you can do when you have a chance to play for your country," he told the Australian Associated Press. "As long as I can't do any further damage, it's a matter of beating the pain barrier.
"I'm not keen to rest, period. I've had enough rest in my life due to injuries and I'll rest when I finally hang the boots up.
"I think that with my toe, it's very painful but you find a way to play through it and I think I'm past the worst of it. It's going to get better as each game goes on."
Sporting 361 wickets from his 207 one-dayers, the 35-year-old is just 21 scalps short of surpassing Glenn McGrath's record of 381 victims. A further 13 will see him join Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas and Pakistan duo Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in the top five highest wicket-takers of all time.
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