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Sydney, Feb.25 (ANI): Australian pace bowler Brett Lee knew that a part of his career was over last August as England paraded around The Oval with the Ashes.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Lee, as saying: ‘ To not play a part in that series was really hard on me. I probably knew after that fifth Test match that the time was right to leave. I had to draw a line in the sand and part with Test cricket.

‘Before the Ashes, the way that I trained, the way I got physically prepared for that series, it’s the best shape I’ve ever been in my life. I suppose it’s why I’m excited about the future as well, because it was only last year. I knew I can do it, I got back to bowling speeds I was really happy with, I was taking wickets, the ball was swinging, but also there’s that fine line,” he added.

He further said: ‘Do I put everything on the line and play three months of Test cricket and never play cricket for Australia again … or do I give away Test cricket in order to play a few more years for Australia?’

The 33-year-old pacer will now attempt to choreograph his exit from internationals altogether by fighting his way back into the Australian one-day team for next February’s World Cup in India.

‘If I can be there at the 2011 World Cup, if I could achieve that goal, I would be more than happy to walk away,’ he said.

Few, certainly Lee, could have guessed that his last appearance in the baggy green would have been the Boxing Day Test of 2008, during which he broke down with a foot injury. He managed to overcome that injury in time for the Ashes tour but after stunning form in the tour game he succumbed to a side strain that kept him out of the first three Tests.

Lee’s priority now is three-year-old son Preston.

‘I don’t want to be away from home for 11 months of the year any more, I’ve done it for 14 years now,’ he said.

‘I’ve got a young boy, Preston, and he’s the most important thing to me in the whole wide world. And I don’t want to be away from him for six months, I won’t be, I promised myself, I promised him.’

Lee did contemplate quitting the sport entirely but said he still harbours ‘burning ambition’.

After 310 wickets from 76 Tests, Lee sits fourth on the all-time list of Australian bowlers.

He must now hope selectors do not consign him to the stands for the World Twenty20 in May or the World Cup next year. (ANI)