Brett Lee aims to be bowling by February 23

Brett Lee is reluctant to commit on his availability for the IPL as he wants to make sure he recovers completely from the elbow injury to his bowling hand, which he sustained during the ODI series in India last November. "I am not going to be making any statement if I will be ready or not," Lee told Cricinfo from Sydney. Lee underwent surgery on December 2 last year and was advised to wear a shoulder brace for a minimum of six weeks.

Lee now has worn the brace for an extra two weeks and still is some distance from freely swinging his hand. He stressed that he would not rush back into any form of cricket till he is confident about his elbow. "It is just a point of how the elbow feels and just working hard on my fitness and see what happens after that," Lee said.

Asked if his rehab was going according to plan, Lee said it was right on track. "I am about eight weeks post-surgery. I'm looking forward to possibly start bowling form February 23. It is a slow process."

The strike-bowler's career has been derailed in the last two years by a spate of injuries. An ankle injury, picked during the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in 2008, laid him low for the next four months before he made his international comeback in a Twenty20 game against Pakistan.

Subsequently, he joined Kings XI Punjab's IPL campaign last year in South Africa at the halfway stage, but failed to create an impact picking just five wickets in five games. The team management is keeping its fingers crossed and would hope that Lee comes back strong as they are already uncertain about the status of another overseas fast bowler, the West Indian Jerome Taylor, who is injured as well. Lee was bought by Punjab for $900,000 in 2008 and in case he fails to make himself available, they could use that amount to find a replacement player.

Lee encourages Indians to visit Australia Recently, relations between India and Australia have been damaged in the wake of persistent, and continuing, attacks on the Indian student community studying and working in Australia, but Brett Lee has asked Indians to visit his country without any fear. Back in India the attacks provoked some right-wing political organisations like the Shiv Sena to issue threats to the Australians who would be participating in the forthcoming IPL. The party said would they be not allowed to play in the state of Maharashtra at least. "I just want to make it very clear to the Indian public that we as Australians love India the country but also love the Indian students and Indian people in general coming out to Australia and to let them know that they are so welcome," Lee said. He said he was "saddened" by the attacks on the Indians. "I'm very saddened by what happened. (But) We welcome Indians from any age group whether it is connected to studying or as a tourist. We accept them with open arms," Lee said.

Doubts about his international future have persisted since Lee missed the Ashes due to a side strain. In his absence the quartet of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger have given a settled outlook to the Australian fast bowling. Lee has been aware of the competition and had recently said that he would explore a range of options to get back into peak shape before he takes a call on his future. His agent Neil Maxwell had not ruled out Test retirement, saying his client would definitely think about altering his international workload.

But Lee is not looking too far ahead and his training now consists of sprints with his arm in a brace. "It has been difficult (running with the brace) but I am now on backpack running and steadily getting back to training so I am confident," he said. When asked about how difficult he expects his comeback to be, Lee said he did not want to predict anything. "They [the four bowlers above] are playing some very good cricket but I want to get the elbow right first and foremost," Lee stressed.

Lee said it was hard for him to watch cricket sitting on the sidelines and instead he preferred spending more time with his son. The free time has also provided him with the opportunity to expand on his social network: on Thursday he was busy playing backyard cricket with British monarch Prince William in Victoria. "The opportunity to mix with royalty was an amazing experience. He is a wonderful guy," Lee said.

SOURCE :- www.cricinfo.com