Agence France Presse

Wellington, February 28:

Australian captain Ricky Ponting and his New Zealand counterpart Stephen Fleming came to the defence of speedster Brett Lee on Monday over allegations of dangerous bowling. New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum was involved in an angry exchange with Lee during Saturday’s match in Auckland after he was struck on the arm by a waist high full toss from the Australian. New Zealand coach John Bracewell told reporters on Sunday that Lee had been guilty of high full tosses — or beamers — against New Zealand batsmen four times this season. Lee’s bowling has dismayed sections of Australia’s media, with Sydney Morning Herald columnist and former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck demanding that the player be sent home.

Ponting said Lee must work hard to eliminate beamers, but insisted they were accidental. “There’s no way he’d ever try and do anything like that on purpose,” Ponting said. “He’s bowling 150 kph most balls and if you’re losing your front foot as well, there’s a very small margin for error there.” Fleming also backed Lee and played down the controversy.

“He’s a fast bowler. He’s operating with hostility and that’s what you want. If we had a fast bowler we’d certainly want him to be bowling as fast as he can and unsettling as many players as possible,” he said.

Fleming will be scratching his head over his lack of a fast bowler for the fourth one-dayer on Tuesday, with Australia in an unassailable 3-0. Ponting will rest a minor side strain, allowing Adam Gilchrist to take the reins. Matthew Hayden will miss the match with shoulder injury and spinner Brad Hogg is the other player omitted. Badly out of form paceman Daryl Tuffey has been dropped for the Kiwis while batsman Michael Papps is out after taking a blow to the temple from a Lee bouncer in Christchurch.