Aussie paceman Brett Lee has warned against allowing players a lengthy layoff in the lead-up to the six-week tour of the West Indies beginning on May 16.
The decision to cancel next month's three-Test series with Pakistan due to safety concerns has left a rare gap on the Australian team's crowded calendar leaving the door ajar for players to appear in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) in late April.
But Lee, who will appear for New South Wales in the Pura Cup Final against Victoria starting on Saturday, said the players had not yet received official clearance to play in the Twenty20 competition from Cricket Australia.
"It's a matter of waiting and seeing right now," Lee said.
"The most important thing is to play some cricket prior to the West Indies tour coming up, that's our most important thing that we do have to worry about."
"The hardest thing would be to play the Pura Cup final here, to have an opportunity to have a few weeks off and not play cricket and then go straight into a Test series in the West Indies would be pretty tough on the body I think."
"So continuing to play cricket I think is the best thing for us."
Asked if the IPL tournament would serve as an adequate build-up for the three-Test tour to the Caribbean, Lee said: "I think any cricket, the Pura Cup final, Twenty20 cricket, just as long as you're out there bowling and batting and being out in the field - any cricket's great preparation I think for a tour coming up."
"There's always that fine line about playing too much cricket or not playing enough cricket but I think in this case if we have three to four to five weeks off without playing any cricket it's almost going back to pre-season blues again."
"You get back into a game and your body goes through that stiffness again so I think if we keep playing cricket it'll probably be the best thing for us."
While Lee said the decision on whether to allow players to play in the IPL lies solely with Cricket Australia, he conceded the lucrative tournament has its appeals.
And the popular quick even suggested the chance for Australian players to mix with their fierce Indian rivals would likely serve to ease tensions after a controversial summer.
"I think the fact that we can go and play and mix with these Indian players - the whole time I thought prior to these little incidents the cricket teams got on very well and I think this will only enhance the way the two teams share the same view," Lee said.
- STEVE ORME