HE HAS been described as a once-in-a-generation bowler, but Australia's quickest paceman has played little more than a month of cricket in a year.
And yesterday Cricket Australia denied a New South Wales request for underdone quick Brett Lee to swap his expected drinks duties in the Perth Test against Pakistan starting on Thursday for some game time.
The blow for Lee and the Blues came as former Test pace bowler Andy Bichel declared his career had "definitely suffered" being 12th man for Australia a record 19 times.
"Brett needs to be playing as much as he can," Bichel said.
"I look back on my career and I suffered by not bowling. All of a sudden you can go from being No. 4 in the country to No. 6 playing in Pura Cup. And when you're No. 6, you've got it all against you to make it back."
NSW petitioned CA at the weekend asking for Lee, if not named in the Australian XI, to be made available for the Blues' Pura Cup match against Tasmania starting at the SCG on Thursday.
Blues chief executive Dave Gilbert lobbied CA for Lee to join the Blues for the second day of the game.
But citing the exceptional circumstances of Lee's massive shortage of cricket -- he has bowled just 274 overs this year -- Gilbert requested a reserve player be able to bat or bowl on the first day while Lee remains with the Test side in case of a late withdrawal.
CA will formally dismiss the request today.
"Brett has played two first-class games in nine months. He desperately needs cricket. Common sense is not prevailing," Gilbert said.
After breaking down in March on the tour of Sri Lanka, Lee's subsequent ankle operation kept him out of the game for five months.
On his return, Lee has slipped back to the fringe of Australian selection. He was drinks waiter for the recent Test series against India and New Zealand, and is destined for more of the same against Pakistan.
But unlike in English cricket, CA determined that Pura Cup laws hold no provision for players to enter a match late, unless someone is called into the Test side rather than being released from it.
"There is no room within our playing conditions for a player to come in once it's started," a CA spokesman said yesterday.
Gilbert said the news was "very disappointing".
"The rule obviously needs changing. It saddens me to say that the Poms are way ahead of us on this," Gilbert said.
"They identified the problem and dealt with it.
"If a batsman spent the same amount of time out of cricket, selectors would be loath to pick him. It is the same for bowlers.
"He is short of a gallop, and if he is pitchforked into a Test later it would be tough with no game time under his belt."
Gilbert's alternative request for delaying the Pura Cup match's start to Friday was also knocked back by CA.
But Bichel, who took 58 wickets in 19 Tests over eight years, agreed steps needed to be taken to ensure Lee, or any other young player, does not fall into a void outside the Australian team.
"Brett is in a tough situation," he said.
"The message I always got from the selectors was they wanted the next best guy there just in case. But you need to be playing.
"Brett had a bit of a bowl in the one-dayers but he really needs as much cricket as he can get. He needs to be ready.
"We all know what Brett can do, but if a young quick in four or five years finds himself in the same position he could suffer from not playing."
CA said yesterday "being 12th man for Australia is an honour" and while Bichel agreed, he said it could negatively affect a bowler's mindset.
"The batsmen start to see you as a net bowler. That was one of the frustrating parts," he said.
"You start to feel like you don't belong, and then when you get a chance, all of a sudden you have to be back firing."
Tasmania Tigers chief executive David Johnston said he would support a review of the rules regarding such circumstances at CA's annual playing conditions meeting in the winter.
"It's one to look at," Johnston said.
NSW captain Simon Katich, another on Australia's fringe, said flexibility in state cricket was a must.
"The fact that Brett hasn't played a lot of four/five-day cricket, I just think it is in the player's best interest," he said.