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Ponting backs struggling Lee and Martyn

MELBOURNE, Australia, Thursday (AFP) -

New Australian captain Ricky Ponting says he has assured Brett Lee and Damien Martyn their Test places are secure despite a long run of outs.

Injury prevented Lee from playing in the series until the third and fourth Tests and he became only the second Australian bowler to concede 200 runs in a Test innings when he finished with 4-201 off 39.3 overs in India's first innings in the final Test.

His bowling average has now climbed above 31 runs a wicket and while his first seven Tests brought a glut of 42 wickets, his past 30 matches have yielded 97 wickets. "I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with that record over the last couple of years, but I'm sure all bowlers have been through that as all batsmen have," Ponting said here on Thursday.

But Ponting said Lee, who last took a five-wicket Test haul in November 2001, was yet to find some sustained rhythm after an injury-interrupted year.

"He's done a lot of bowling in the last three weeks since his comeback and he's probably not back to full match fitness just yet either," Ponting said.

"In saying that I thought he bowled pretty well with the new ball on a couple of occasions, got a couple of wickets off no-balls, had a couple of catches put down. "But I'm sure with a few days rest and a bit more bowling under his belt in the next couple of weeks you'll see him come back to his best."

Lee can at least look back to his excellent one-day form ahead of the tri- series against India and Zimbabwe, which starts here on Friday, having taken 22 wickets in last year's World Cup, second behind only Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas (23).

Martyn has performed well at one-day level over the past year and given the form of his batting colleagues, his slump is not as high a concern.

But the West Australian, who scored 254 runs at 42.33 against India, has not scored a Test hundred since February 2002 - almost two years and 26 innings ago.

With Michael Clarke, Darren Lehmann and Martin Love to fight out the race to replace Steve Waugh in the Test batting line-up, Ponting is still happy with Martyn batting at No.4.

"Sure he hasn't scored a hundred for a little while, but he's been getting very good starts and he's looked good every time he's gone out there to bat," he said.

"I think it's just a little mental hurdle that once he goes on to get a big score then I'm sure you'll see a lot more come after that as they did when he first got back into the Test team."

Martyn has been a permanent member of the Test team since his breakthrough series against England in 2001, when he scored two hundreds.

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