Brett Lee told Sky Sports News he was shocked to see Michael Vaughan overlooked by England.
Lee thinks Vaughan will bounce back after 'shock' England omission
Australian paceman Brett Lee told
Sky Sports News he was shocked to see Michael Vaughan left out of England's initial Ashes squad, labelling the former skipper as 'a class act'.
Vaughan captained England to ashes glory back in 2005, but has not played for his country since relinquishing the captaincy - and he was left out of a 16-man pre-Ashes squad named on Monday.
Lee says that Vaughan is highly respected within the Australian camp after his run-scoring exploits against them in the past - and him being left out did come as a surprise.
"I'm a bit shocked and disappointed a bit more disappointed for Michael Vaughan as he's a class act," Lee told
Sky Sports News.
"He's fantastic guy and fantastic player. He's got a habit of scoring some big runs against the Australian team at the important times so it's a shame not to be playing against someone who's such a class player."
Bounce back
Lee is still not counting out the prospect of steaming in to bowl at Vaughan come the Ashes though, saying a player of his calibre could make it back into the Test thinking.
"I wouldn't count him out just yet," Lee added. "It's hard to keep a class player down and Michael Vaughan's definitely that, so I wouldn't count him out just yet."
As Australia prepare for a warm-up match at Sussex, skipper Ricky Ponting disagreed with Lee and had no such surprise at both Vaughan and Steve Harmison being left out.
"I am not surprised those two guys are not around, to tell the truth," said Ponting. "With the way their group have been performing of late, I think their squad pretty much picked itself."
Harmison will get his chance to have a go at the Australians and press his claims for a re-call when he plays for England Lions, and Ponting says it will be good to face the Durham man.
Harmison danger
"At his best, we all know how good a bowler Harmison can be," said the Australia captain.
"At one stage, he was probably the best fast bowler in Test cricket. It will be good preparation for all of us, to face those qualities of bowlers, and will also give those guys an opportunity to put their names in front of the England selectors."
"You want to be facing the best bowlers and batsmen you can going into a Test series. The better opposition you can have, the better prepared you will be going into the first Test."
Once the Ashes starts, Lee is expecting the same volcanic atmosphere that greeted them in 2005, but insists that it will not effect the tourists.
"Any side you play against with a massive crowd behind them, you have always got to fear them," he said. "All we can do is play our own brand of cricket and not worry too much about what England are doing."
