ONLY an 11th-hour table thump from Ricky Ponting can save Brett Lee from being Australia's most frustrated cricketer in Perth on Thursday.
Australia's selectors simply will not have it in them to sack Michael Kasprowicz from the first Test team to play Pakistan because of his consistency in an 11-Test comeback spanning three nations this year.
So it appears Lee will be 12th man for the fifth Test in a row.
With all of the fast-bowling team fit for action, Lee's only avenue into the team will be to harass Ponting with his extreme pace in the nets this week and hope the captain backs his cause when he meets with selector David Boon on Wednesday.
Lee pipped Andrew Bichel for a Test berth at the WACA Ground two years ago against England when he bowled brilliantly to captain Steve Waugh in the nets.
Selector Allan Border has conceded the panel is heavily influenced by the captain's thoughts in tight verdicts.
"If the captain is so strong in favour of a player, you would be reluctant to go against that as a selector. I would be," Border said.
"Whoever is over there will take Ricky Ponting and the senior guys' verdict to heart and obviously then we'll make a decision. It will be a tough one.
"The three quicks who played in the last Test match and through India have done such a good job.
"The last Test series against the Kiwis, the bowling got such a wrap you're a bit reluctant to change that going into a Test series.
"On the other hand, we've got this young bloke chomping at the bit, bowls 150-plus clicks on a wicket that is traditionally fairly bouncy.
"Although the last (Pura Cup) game I watched over there, one side made 500 and the other made 560, so the Perth wicket may have lost a little of the pace and bounce it had in the '70s and '80s.
"Let's hope the groundsman gives us something with a little pace and bounce."
Kasprowicz (11 wickets at 19) and Lee (24 wickets at 24 in four games) have fine records in Perth.
New South Wales Cricket Association chief executive David Gilbert has applied for Lee to be released for the Blues' Pura Cup match against Tasmania in Sydney, starting on Thursday.
- ROBERT CRADDOCK