Ponting confident of Lee’s return to ODI team

Stand-in Australian captain Ricky Ponting says he is optimistic paceman Brett Lee will recover from a broken toe to take his place in the one-day side to face Sri Lanka on Friday. Lee was ruled out of action for up to six weeks after fracturing the little toe of his right foot when he was struck by a ball against India in a Twenty20 clash earlier this month. But his recovery is ahead of schedule and Ponting said he will only settle on his starting XI ahead of the toss at the SCG. “He had a run yesterday and his toe pulled up particularly well,” Ponting said of Lee. “He’s got a lot of bowling to get through today and we’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow morning so we won’t be able to finalise our team until the toss tomorrow. Fingers crossed for Brett that he comes up well.” From gulf today