New Delhi, October 31: Australia’s pace spearhead Brett Lee was Friday ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series against India, dealing a fresh blow to the injury-ravaged tourists.
Lee, 32, will fly home to undergo rehabilitation for an elbow injury that forced him to sit out the second one-day international at Nagpur. He was also unable to bowl his full quota of overs in the opener at Vadodara.
“Lee’s elbow injury has not responded as well to treatment and he will fly back home,” Australia’s media manager Lachy Patterson told AFP.
“He will consult an elbow specialist and work out the best way possible to make a recovery.”
The injury is the latest setback for Lee, Australia’s leading fast bowler with 324 wickets from 186 one-day internationals.
The bowler also missed the Ashes in England due to fitness problems but regained his form and rhythm during the subsequent Champions Trophy in South Africa.
With the current seven-match series tied at 1-1, the Australians are down to the bare bones for the third match at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday.
All-rounder James Hopes (hamstring) and wicketkeeper Tim Paine (finger) have already been ruled out of the match, forcing the visitors to call up New South Wales’ Moises Henriques and South Australian Graham Manou.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said earlier he was banking on the replacements to deliver the goods in the day-night encounter here.
“Hopes did bowl at the nets and he is almost OK but we don’t want to take any chances. Manou is young but the good thing is that he has a fair bit of experience, having played in the Ashes against England,” Ponting said.
Australia won the first match of the series by four runs, before crashing to a heavy defeat in Nagpur on Wednesday after India piled up a mammoth 354-7 and bowled out the tourists for 255.
“Injuries cost us a little more than we expected in Nagpur,” Ponting said.
“Lee is one guy who bowls well at the death but it also depends on who are you bowling at because a player like (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni can be very dangerous in the last few overs.”
Dhoni, the Indian captain, smashed 124 off 107 balls to set up a spectacular win for the home side at Nagpur.
The fourth match will be played in Mohali on Monday.
—–Agencies