Technical Committee confirms Clark can replace Lee in Australia squad for ICC Cricket World Cup

The Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 has approved Stuart Clark as a replacement player for Brett Lee in Australia's squad for the tournament.

The confirmation was conveyed to Cricket Australia in an email from David Richardson, the ICC General Manager - Cricket and the Chairman of the tournament Technical Committee, on Monday.

The Committee has since received an application from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to replace the injured Abdul Razzaq with fellow all-rounder Azhar Mahmood and that application will be considered in the very near future.

Clark replaces his fellow New South Wales fast bowler Lee after the latter was unable to recover from an ankle injury sustained during Australia's recent ODI tour of New Zealand.

Clark is the first replacement player called up for the tournament after each of the 16 teams taking part nominated their final squads of 15 players.

The call-up completes an about-turn for Clark as he was replaced in Australia's squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 after sustaining a thigh injury in the run-up to that event.

The Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup consists of David Richardson (Chairman, ICC representative), Campbell Jamieson (IDI representative), former international captains Michael Atherton and Rameez Raja (both independent nominations), Chris Dehring (Managing Director and CEO of the ICC CWC 2007) and Michael Hall (ICC CWC 2007 Cricket Operations Director).

A PCB media release said Razzaq would be ruled out of the tournament after suffering a partial ligament tear and bone bruising to his knee during team training.