Thomson fumes over Lee Test talk

Jeff Thomson has angrily rejected calls for Brett Lee's promotion to the Test side against New Zealand at Christchurch tomorrow. Thomson said Michael Kasprowicz had done the "hard yards", and deserved to retain his place in the most contentious selection issue of the tour.

The debate will rumble for another day after Australia delayed naming their team until they had another look at the Jade Stadium pitch tomorrow morning. Ricky Ponting said Lee had a strong claim, but the form of the three other fast bowlers meant they did not deserve to be dropped.

"All those guys deserve their spot in the side, and we've got Brett, who's been outstanding on this tour and right through the VB Series as well," Ponting said. "At the moment Brett has a bit of a psychological edge over some of the NZ batsmen. So there's all those things you have to consider. I know if I was in their side and looked at a teamsheet and saw his name wasn't on it I would be reasonably relieved at this stage of the tour."

Thomson told the Brisbane Courier-Mail that the decision was easy: "Lee's bowled well in one-day games against a team of no-hopers. One-day cricket is a joke. Kasper has done the hard yards, done nothing wrong. An idiot can get wickets in one-day cricket."

Thomson said Lee was dropped because he "doesn't do the job" in Tests, and he was not impressed with his limited-overs performances. "Why should he get picked again? It's not as if he is taking a bagful of one-day wickets. If Brad Hogg, Andrew Symonds and Darren Lehmann take wickets in one-day cricket then what does that tell you about bowling in one-day cricket?"

Clive Lloyd this week rated Thomson, who had 200 victims in 51 Tests, a more intimidating proposition for batsmen than Lee, but Justin Langer said that his team-mate would scare the New Zealand batsmen. "There's always some sort of fear factor," observed Langer. "You know in the back of your mind that even if you have a great day you've got to put up with some bruises and aggression, and you've got to be quite strong to get through that."

Stephen Fleming has confirmed that he will open, filling the gap left by Mark Richardson's retirement after the Australia home series, and has given himself the job of blunting Australia's attack. Fleming said he was under pressure after a poor one-day series, where he was a regular target of Lee, but was confident he could give his side a strong start.