Brett Lee's immediate Test career appears to have been salvaged by the hamstring injury to Shane Watson that has ruled him out of the second Test, beginning in Adelaide on Friday.
Pressure is mounting on Lee, who had a poor first Test, with the selectors again adding two young fast bowlers, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson, to the team which so emphatically won the first Test in Brisbane.
Tait has an outstanding record in Adelaide for South Australia and cannot be far from playing his first Test in Australia.
Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch yesterday made it clear the selectors were keen to pursue the two-spinner option in Adelaide, a traditionally flat batting wicket, but they could not do that without Watson as the all-rounder to act as a third pace bowler.
Stuart MacGill appeared a certainty to join the squad as a second leg-spinner with Shane Warne until Watson failed a fitness examination on Monday.
Hilditch confirmed Watson was still very much in the thinking of the selectors, continuing the pressure on the fast bowlers to perform.
"It is very disappointing for Shane Watson that he will not be fit for this match but we are hopeful for a speedy recovery (before) the third Test," Hilditch said. "The possibility of using two specialist spinners continues to be discussed. That decision is made more difficult while Shane Watson is unfit but it will be reviewed depending on the particular conditions we will face at each venue."
Former Test captain Mark Taylor and vice captain Ian Healy yesterday claimed that had Watson been fit and the selectors were forced to choose just two fast bowlers to partner the all-rounder and two spinners, then Lee would have been in a lot of trouble.
This is despite Lee being Australia's most productive fast bowler since last year's Ashes loss, with 54 Test wickets, although he claimed just one in each innings in Brisbane while conceding 149 runs.
Glenn McGrath and rookie Stuart Clark were the most successful bowlers in the match, with seven wickets each, and there are no official concerns about McGrath's bruised left heel, which required a pain-killing injection during the first Test.
"Now that the selectors will be going with three quicks for Adelaide I don't think Brett will be under much pressure but if they were choosing just two fast bowlers it would be a very tough call," Taylor said.
"It would have been very, very tough to drop either Clark or McGrath."
Healy agreed, claiming this highlighted the tough life of a bowler.
"Bowlers have always been much easier to drop, or make 12th man, than batsmen," Healy said.
Like many people, Healy was puzzled why the selectors bothered to pick Johnson, the Queensland left-arm paceman, in the squad.
It was understandable he was 12th man for the first Test in his home town of Brisbane, where conditions were likely to be more favourable, but Tait was always going to be the better and more obvious option in Adelaide.
"Mitch is irrelevant in this game but Tait for Lee becomes a relevant contest. It will be a tough selection," Healy said.
However, he believed the selectors would ultimately go with an unchanged side.
Healy felt Lee was straining in an attempt to bowl quickly.
"Brett was pushing too hard in his run-up," Healy said. "Brett admits this is his bad habit, and his good habit is slowly building up momentum. He only has to look at how Jeff Thomson used to run up to the wicket."
Rodney Hogg, the former Test fast bowler, said Lee would be an automatic selection for Adelaide. But he was concerned Australia's fastest bowler did not make the English batsmen play enough in Brisbane.
"He has a fantastic record in one-day cricket because he bowls at the stumps," Hogg said.
"A fast bowler should get 25 to 30 per cent of (his) wickets bowled or leg before wicket. Brett needs to bowl at the stumps a bit more often in Test cricket."
The desire of the four-man selection panel to rush Watson back into the team as soon as he is fit also leaves Michael Clarke's career in a lingering state of uncertainty.
Hilditch praised Clarke for his 56 in Brisbane. A big score in Adelaide would give the selectors even more to think about regarding the immediate future of the two 25-year-olds.
Lee has fallen one place to 20th on the International Cricket Council's world bowling rankings following the first Test. He sits behind Jason Gillespie, who has played just two Tests, both in Bangladesh, since being dropped midway through last year's tour of England. Gillespie is equal 18th.
McGrath has climbed two places to be second following his first Test in 11 months and Shane Warne has fallen one place to fourth. Clark continues to rocket up the table with a bullet, advancing six places to a career-best ranking of 28th after five Tests.
- MALCOLM CONN