Lee can “come back to pretty much his best”: Hilditch
By ANISaturday, May 1, 2010
St.LUCIA - Australia’s chief selector Andrew Hilditch is confident that injured fast bowler Brett Lee would be able to recover fully and make a strong comeback, but would have to produce his career-best form if he wants to play for Australia again.
“He came back from a side strain in England (in 2009) and played really well in one-day cricket for us, helped us win the Champions Trophy. He can come back from injury, he came back to pretty much his best the last time,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Hilditch, as saying.
“This elbow injury has obviously been a big setback. With the benefit of hindsight he might have tried to come back too early. Now he’s going to have a hard rehab program to get back to his best if that’s what he wants to do,” he added.
Lee sustained a muscle strain in his right forearm during the warm up game against Zimbabwe, which has ruled him out of the Twenty20 World Cup and also raised doubts over his international career.
It is Lee’s fifth injury since December 2008 in a list that includes ankle surgery, side strain, elbow surgery and a fractured thumb.
Hilditch further said the selection panel wanted to see Lee emerge from his elbow surgery and have a full Indian Premier League (IPL) season before heading to the Caribbean.
“The reality is you have to pick the squad on March 30 so we only got to see the one IPL game. I acknowledge that at the time it was a little bit of a gamble. We needed him to play eight or nine IPL games to get ready, which he had in front of him,” Hilditch said.
“Then he had the thumb injury which impacted his preparation. That was disappointing,” he added. (ANI)
