Brett Lee’s career as an international cricketer hangs by the most tenuous of threads.

His hopes of pushing for an Australian Test recall on the seven-match limited-overs tour of India have been dashed by an unresolved elbow problem and he is now in the fight of his life to get fit in time for NSW’s November 17 Sheffield Shield game against Victoria.

It is the last match before the home summer begins with the first Test against West Indies at the Gabba and Lee would be swiftly forced to the margins by younger rivals if not in contention for that squad.

Since his decline began with a horrid Test tour of India last year, Lee has required ankle surgery that cost him half the home summer, then missed the Ashes due to a rib complaint.

Australia coach Tim Nielsen said Lee, who arrives in Sydney in the early hours of Sunday morning, was being given a chance to be fit for the Blues by flying home, but admitted the latest setback put the 32-year-old fast man “up against it”.

“It doesn’t help, but he’s played a lot of cricket over the last little while and we’re probably being a bit careful,” Nielsen said.

“We’ve dealt with it as well as we could on the road, but when you have those things that don’t clear themselves up in a short space of time, we’ve only got 12-13 days left in the tour as well.

“So we figured if it’s another six days that’s half the tour gone and he hasn’t played a game, there’s no point dragging it out.

“He hasn’t been home since May, so we just took what we thought was the prudent decision to give him a rest and get him home to see the specialist and give us all the best chance of finding out what’s wrong.

“NSW have a Shield game on November 17, so all the players are available or back in Australia for that game, so ideally that’s what we’re aiming for that we’ll get him up and going before the first Test so he can prove his fitness.”

Though Lee has described himself somewhat optimistically as “a young 32″, Nielsen said he was now at an age where the body could not be relied on to spring back into place, particularly with the current heavy schedule.

“He’s had injuries but he’s a fast bowler who goes at 150km/h, so there’s always going to be wear and tear, and he’s probably on the wrong side of 30 to be not getting sore every now and again,” Nielsen said.

“History shows that bowlers tend to get injured a little more when they’re over 30 than they do when they’re under 30, so that’s just life.

“He knows that he’s got a job that puts a lot of physical stress on his body.

“As he says, ‘I can run in and bowl 135km/h outswingers for the rest of my life, but I won’t be anywhere near as effective or dangerous’.”

The Australian selectors are yet to nominate a replacement for Lee on an injury-ravaged tour that had already lost wicketkeeper Tim Paine to a fractured finger, in addition to niggles for James Hopes (hamstring) and Mitchell Johnson (ankle).

© AAP 2012

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