Ponting excited to unleash Lee, Tait as new Lillee and Thomson

Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting today said he is excited and looking forward to the prospect of seeing pacers Brett Lee and Shaun Tait bowl in tandem in the home series against Sri Lanka and India later this year.

Sydney, Aug 6 : Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting today said he is "excited" and looking forward to the prospect of seeing pacers Brett Lee and Shaun Tait bowl in tandem in the home series against Sri Lanka and India later this year.

Ponting said that considering the duo's sheer bowling pace, Australia could unleash the world's fastest new-ball pair in the contemporary cricket.

"It's pretty exciting to have two guys that can just rip opposition batting apart with their sheer pace, if nothing else," Ponting said, adding, "It's an exciting time, no doubt about that."He said the Lee-Tait pair, both of whom have been clocked over the 160km/h mark, might also become the country's most frightening attack since Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in the 1970s.

"If you have both those guys at the top of their games there's every chance that could happen," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Ponting, as saying.

He sounded confident about Lee making a comeback for the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Gabba on November 8 following an ankle surgery. But Tait needs to show the selectors that he has fully recovered from an elbow operation.

ANI