Revived Lee stakes Ashes claim

Brett Lee has made a statement of intent by taking five wickets against the England Lions and followed up with an equally blunt message to the selectors.

Lee registered deliveries at speeds pushing 160kph on the way to single-handedly reducing the Lions from 172 without loss to 5 for 209 in Australia's final hitout in Worcester before next Wednesday's first Ashes Test in Cardiff.

"I haven't trained for 25 weeks to sit on the sideline," he said after the day's play.

The 32-year-old, who has taken 310 Test wickets, is not guaranteed a place in Australia's attack for the Ashes opener after several months out of the side following foot and ankle surgery.

He played the last of his 76 Tests in December, missing the majority of the double-header against South Africa and his place in the side following such serious surgery has been questioned.

But any doubts about his ability to generate late swing at express pace were blown away at New Road in a spell of bowling which yielded five wickets for just 26 runs after switching ends.

"We wanted to see the balls swinging early on," said Lee, who admitted reverse swing would play a huge part in determining the victors in the forthcoming series.

"We tried to rough the ball up and get it to come back in later on. That worked a treat."

Lee out-bowled his supposed opponent for the final quick berth, Stuart Clark, and overshadowed Mitchell Johnson, who was down on pace as he returned figures of 0 for 101 off 20 overs.

"People say I'm under pressure but I don't look at it like that," smiled Lee, who toured England in 2001 and 2005 but averages over 45 with the ball in 10 Ashes Tests in England.

"It wasn't great getting injured and I didn't have the best time in India.

"But if you haven't taken anything out of the last 10 years of playing then you're not a smart cricketer.

"Over the past two or three years I've become a smarter bowler and I cherish the fact that I'm playing a new role now."

England's Stephen Moore, who top-scored with 120 in the Lions' 6 for 302 before exiting at the hands of Lee, conceded he had not seen bowling of that calibre anywhere on the county scene.

"That little bit of extra pace definitely seemed like it was a key ingredient for him," Moore said.

"He got some very late reverse swing which made the toes curl up in the boots a bit."

It was indeed a typically whole-hearted effort which lived up to Lee's pre-match prediction that he had been solely concentrating on bowling fast.

Lee showed aggression by striking opener Joe Denly (66) when he ducked into a rising delivery and experience in trapping Ian Bell in front of his stumps first ball with a fuller delivery on his way to 5 for 53.

Hauritz hammered

He admitted his position as the touring party's senior bowler encompassed mentoring the young pace brigade of Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus.

But he might also need to offer support to the under-fire Nathan Hauritz, who found the New Road pitch unconducive to his off spinners in taking 0 for 80 off 18 overs.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting even turned to part-timer Michael Clarke during Moore and Denly's 172-run partnership at the top of the innings.

Meanwhile Marcus North's occasional tweakers dismissed Steven Davies for 53 towards the end of the day's play.

Hauritz's Test place now appears in doubt, with the South African-born Moore admitting the Lions had made a priority of targeting him.

"We went out with a game plan to make sure we made life difficult for him," he said.

"He's a nice bowler... but without that X-factor Shane Warne had you've got an area there that you can try and attack.

"We definitely made it a focus."

-AFP