Sydney, Feb 13 : Cricket Australia will not rush Brett Lee's return to the national team, potentially leaving him with little chance of proving his worth for the Ashes.

Lee, who has been ruled out of the South Africa tour with a broken foot, is making steady recovery from surgery.

Lee has an outside chance of playing in the limited-overs series against Pakistan, to be staged in the Middle East in April, but it is more likely the fast bowler will make his comeback with the Kings XI Punjab towards the end of the Indian Premier League or in the Twenty20 World Cup that follows in England.

"Brett's ankle is moving well. He starts running in a couple of weeks, and hopefully after that starts, bowling as well," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris, as saying.

"He is an outside chance [for the Pakistan series] but we're not going to rush for that because there is so much ahead of us so we will take our time. If he is right for that, great; if he's not the Twenty20 World Cup or maybe the tail end of IPL to get a bit of bowling into his system. It all depends on how he progresses," he added.

Lee's summer was cut short when he suffered a stress injury in his left foot in the Boxing Day Test. (ANI)