For the very reason Australia's cricket chiefs have requested the England and Wales Cricket Board for permission to play 12 players in the two warm up matches ahead of the first Ashes test against England. The two matches to be played are against Sussex on June 24-27 and England Lions on July 1-4.

Lee and Clark are both returning from injury layoffs and are slated to make their international comeback in the ICC World Twenty20 next month.

“Binga (Lee) is still a bit of an unknown," Ricky Ponting, Australia's captain told the AFP. "I'm hearing a lot of good things out of South Africa about how he bowled in the IPL but we haven't seen him up close yet.

"The first two games we play leading into the first Test will tell us a pretty good story about where we see all of those five fast bowlers." That will be our best chance to look at the likelihood of some of those guys playing the first Test.

"I couldn't be happier with the squad of fast bowlers we've got together in this group and there will be some great competition for spots, come the first Test match and that in itself makes it a very exciting team to be around."

The word goes that the ECB will grant permission, as Australia allowed its squad to do the same when they travelled there in 2006-07. However, the ECB claims that the idea hasn’t gone down too well with organizers. They may, at most, allow one match to be played that way. Sussex chief executive David Brooks is quoted telling The Times: "The danger is that 12-a-side means it is not a proper game anymore," he said. "We don't want to be churlish and turn down a reasonable request, but we want a competitive game so that our younger players can have a real go at the Aussies."

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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