In what can be described as a serious blow to Australia, Brett Lee finds himself undergoing surgery over his condition of appendicitis in a hospital in Cape Town even as Australia are to officially begin their tour of South Africa.

South Africa are coming out of a rather lengthy hibernation. Australia’s tour of South Africa was then to prove to be a test for the hosts as the visitors have tasted success in Sri Lanka to the extent that they are coming in form and in touch. However, Australia have suffered their first blow on tour even before a ball has been bowled in that Brett Lee broke down with the injury and will now be out of cricket for upto two months after undergoing surgery.

Unaware of Brett Lee’s problem, Australia were made aware after Lee complained of pain upon arriving in South Africa. In Lee, Australia, on the road to resurrection since the drama that went down after the loss of the Ashes down under, were looking for experience to balance the fact that they have a few new faces in the squad in the likes of the young pace sensation, Patrick Cummins.

Mitchell Johnson has been named in Australia’s ODI squad and it will be interesting to see whether he will now be pushed into the Twenty20 format or Australia will stick to the likes of Doug Bollinger to lead the pace attack. Brett Lee has already retired from Test cricket although he does play in the shorter formats. With the lengthy nature of recovery, Brett Lee now stands to miss the entire out of South Africa which is a disappointment not only from an Australian perspective but also, for cricket fans who would have wanted to see Lee tussle with South Africa’s powerhouse batsmen. The contest though is now rendered void in the absence of Lee even as Australia explore their fast bowling options on the tour and they do have a fair few names such as James Pattison, Ryan Harris and even Peter Siddle, now that injuries have been put behind them.