Lee seeks New Zealand stint, eyes World Cup: report

Wellington:

Australian fast bowler Brett Lee is poised to play domestic Twenty20 cricket in New Zealand as he seeks a career swansong at next year's World Cup, a report said on Wednesday.

Lee retired from Test cricket earlier this year after a string of injuries but is desperate to cap his international career by appearing for Australia at the showpiece in February, a newspaper reported.

It said Lee's manager Neil Maxwell had secured provisional agreement from Cricket Australia for the bowler to play for Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand's Twenty20 competition and he expected no objections from Cricket NSW.

"We're just waiting for something in writing.... We just want to lock that away in the next week or so," he told the newspaper.

Maxwell said the 33-year-old was showing glimpses of his old form in the nets after recovering from an arm injury.

"He's rolling his arm over comfortably, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour without too much effort, he reckons, so he'll start cranking it up now," he said.

Lee has a large following in India, which is co-hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and has said previously that an appearance at the tournament would be a fitting end to his international career.