Lee creates selection headache

Brett Lee's intimidating one-day form is leading Australia to another seriously difficult decision when the Test series against New Zealand begins next week. Ricky Ponting said it would be "almost impossible" to leave any of the four fast bowlers out, but with Shane Warne returning the third spot shapes as a contest between Lee and Michael Kasprowicz.

Lee's speed in the five-match one-day series, which Australia sealed 3-0 at Auckland on Saturday, has been frightening, and the New Zealand batsmen have found no way to cope as he's picked up seven wickets. Michael Papps was the latest to be upset when he was hit on the helmet by two bouncers at Eden Park and taken to hospital with concussion.

Stephen Fleming has been unable to reach double figures against Lee, who has dismissed him each time in the series. Fleming said Lee's speed had unsettled his batsmen and they weren't used to the jump in pace. "In our competition we don't have a lot of bowlers operating in the 140s, let alone the 150 area," he said. "There's only really two in the world doing it so it's not something that comes along every series. He is bowling pretty quick and doing what any good fast bowler should do - he's unsettling and bowling with intensity."

Ponting said Australia had four bowlers in the world's top 12 and it would be difficult to separate them for the first Test at Christchurch from March 6. "It's going to be almost impossible to leave one of the four out," he said. "Lee's doing everything in his power to give himself the best chance, but so are the other guys. All of those four bowlers are stats-wise in the best 10 or 12 bowlers in the world."

Lee, who hasn't played a Test in 14 months, told AAP he could bowl even faster now he was fully recovered from ankle surgery last March. "I'm not going flat out," he said. "I know I've got a bit more in the tank, which is a good thing too, and I sort of feel comfortable bowling within myself." His only problem has been with the occasional waist-high full-toss, and he delivered another one on Saturday that angered Brendon McCullum.

Australia are expected to name their Test squad on Wednesday, but Kasprowicz is again looking vulnerable for the final XI despite a spectacular 2004 that reaped 47 wickets in 13 Tests.