Egland Will Feel More Heat In The Absence of Flintoff, Says Brett Lee

Brett Lee says the difference between England and Australia in the one-day series is that Andrew Flintoff is injured. Luke Wright, by contrast, says that the difference is that Brett Lee is fit.

Perhaps they are both right. Certainly, as the teams prepare for the third of the seven NatWest matches at the Rose Bowl this afternoon, the momentum is with Australia, but only by a nose.

Having missed the Ashes Test series with a side strain, Lee said yesterday that he regretted not having one final tussle with Flintoff, his friend and great adversary in the 2005 series. At the age of 32, Lee says that he has played his final Ashes Test in England and is disappointed that Flintoff's knee injury has kept him out of this series. He speculated that it could be the reason why England are 2-0 down.

“They've got some other great bowlers, but what Andrew brings to the game is that X factor,” he said. “We've talked about aura this summer and he has the same aura as the likes of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and David Beckham. And possibly when he's not around, that aura isn't there for the team.”

Wright, one of several young all-rounders hoping to fill Flintoff's shoes in all forms of the game, defended England's bowlers, but admitted that Australia's pacemen have made life difficult for the batsmen.

“I think we've bowled brilliantly,” he said. “We've kept their totals down and we can take a lot of heart from that. Our bowlers have given us a chance to win the first two games but we've not taken them when we batted.

“What's good for them is that they have Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson to come on and bowl at 93 to 94mph in the middle overs and take wickets. That is the one thing they have got on us. It is hard work to bat when Lee is flying in. Hitting him back over his head is not an option and probably you're just trying to get down the other end.”

Lee has something to prove after missing the whole Test series, but he said yesterday that he had been “100 per cent fit” for the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests, the selectors deciding not to risk him.

“It was very disappointing,” he said. “I'd worked extremely hard after I got injured in the Boxing Day Test [he needed ankle surgery in January] and it felt really good in that Worcester match [before the Ashes], then I fell at the last hurdle. I've only had two muscle tears in 20 years of cricket and that fell at the wrong time.

“I gave myself every opportunity to return during the Ashes. I know when I'm right to go and I was 100 per cent fit at Headingley, but people thought otherwise. I've dealt with it now, it's behind me and I've not taken any ill feeling about it.”

Instead, Lee will have to show what he can do during the one-day series. In the two matches so far, he has taken three wickets and was impressive in the second game at Lord's with figures of two for 22 from eight overs.

Lee promised that he has a couple more good years ahead of him and was not yet thinking about retirement. “Any chance I get to play cricket, I always try to play my best,” he said. “I'm hungrier than ever. In fact I'm starving. I still get excited when I take wickets and if I'm still getting that buzz I'll keep playing.”

On Monday night, Lee and Shane Watson, his Australia team-mate, had dinner with Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, and entertained his guests with a few songs on the guitar and piano. Lee enthusiastically endorsed the Rose Bowl as a future Test venue yesterday.

“I've always been very impressed,” Lee said. “The facilities are second to none. I would love in a couple of years to watch a lot of Test match cricket down here.”

That is Bransgrove's plan and the chairman is preparing a £50million redevelopment, part-funded by selling debentures with a 5 per cent return, to entice the ECB into giving the ground an Ashes Test in 2013 or 2016.

The ground will host Tests against Sri Lanka in 2011 and India in 2014, but Bransgrove hopes that his expansion plans, which will take the capacity to 25,000, will snare the ultimate prize. “The ground will offer the highest sales to the public in the country, because capacity at Lord's is minimised by the tickets it gives to MCC members,” he said. “The final validation of a Test match ground is an Ashes Test.”