'Tough for Lee to earn his place back in team'

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does want Brett Lee to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Flintoff but feels with age creeping up it would be difficult for the injury-ravaged pacer to earn his place back in the Test team.

Taylor made it clear that he does not want Lee to quit Test cricket to prolong his ODI and Twenty20 career as done by English all-rounder Flintoff.

"However, it's a tough one for Brett because it's tougher for fast bowlers and he's 33, not 30 or 31. He's getting to the stage where even if he was 100 per cent fit, which clearly he is not, it's always harder to maintain your spot in the side," Taylor was quoted as saying by The Australian.

"The younger guys coming through like Johnson, Siddle and Hilfenhaus have done a good job over the last 12 to 18 months. Even if he (Lee) gets himself back to full fitness, that's going to take up to 10 or 12 weeks and it gives those guys more time to really cement their spot," he said.

With Lee, who returned midway from the ODI series against India last month, due to an elbow problem, succumbing to his third major injury in a year, the Australian speedster admitted that he faces an uncertain future.

Taylor, who is now a member of Cricket Australia, said Lee does not have the luxury of dropping his pace as done by former greats Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath at the fag end of their careers.

"If you look at Lillee and McGrath, they started out trying to be tearaway quicks but by the end of their career they weren't terrifying, mad fast bowlers, they were just very good fast-medium bowlers," he said.

"That's where I think Brett's going to struggle because he's not the sort of guy you can say, 'Let's drop back to 135km/h and bowl line and length'. That's never been his forte."

Meanwhile, his former teammate Gillespie feels Lee might sacrifice Test cricket to prolong his limited overs career. "He may just decide to travel the world on the Twenty20 and one-day circuit.

"Part of him might think that's quite appealing. There's not as much stress on the body. It's a difficult decision. He loves playing Test cricket, but everyone has to do it (retire) at some stage," Gillespie said.