Lee swings back into form, gets praise from Holding

Back in contention for the Ashes with his first five-wicket haul on English soil, Australian pacer Brett Lee says he has finally mastered reverse swing, which the Englishmen had used with destructive precision during the 2005 series. "If you look back to 2005, what let us down and what affected us was reverse swing.

We couldn't work out a way to get it to swing," Lee said after picking up five wickets in a practice match against England Lions team. The 32-year-old, who was battling for his place due to indifferent form, finally got some breathing space after yesterday's performance.

Lee said reverse swing would play a "massive" role in the Ashes starting July 8 and contrary to what is said, he has no problems bowling with an old ball. "We wanted to get the ball to swing early on, try and rough it up and try to get the ball to come back in later on.

That worked a treat. I always enjoy bowling when the ball is like that," Lee was quoted as saying by 'The Daily Telegraph'.

The speedster, who took 5-21 in 40 balls and ended with 5-53 in the tour match, also got a word of praise from West Indian fast bowling legend Michael Holding. "I liked what I saw," Holding said.

"Everyone has been saying Brett Lee has been injured and coming back into the game he might not be on top of his game. He bowled the fastest ball of the match so far and he has bowled some very very quick spells," he added.