KEY POINTS:
PERTH - Australia have maintained they did a good job with over rates on day one of the third Test - despite finishing six shy of their allotted 90 in the day despite an extra 30 minutes of play.
Four quick bowlers, hot weather and some stalling Indian batsmen all contributed to an over rate of 12 an hour in session one, 13.5 in session two and an overall rate of 12.9 an hour in the day.
But despite some frustration amongst the 16,000 WACA spectators - who under match rules will not get to see the lost overs - Lee was adamant he and the rest of the bowlers had been trying their best.
"When you've got four quicks steaming in, bowling off 30 odd metres each, on a hot day its always going to be tough to bowl 90 overs in a day," Lee said.
"But in saying that we have to try to do that.
"Today there was a lot of stoppages too, so all in all I thought we did a pretty good job."
The over rate was not all Australia's doing, with the entrance of Sourav Ganguly midway through the afternoon taking an age - and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni changing his thigh pad after mere minutes at the crease.
But after Australia noticeably attempted to up their pace between overs in the final session, Indian batsman Rahul Dravid said he had to ask them to slow down again - as he felt rushed at the crease.
"I was not getting frustrated with it but I was just trying to make my point that I needed some time to settle in," Dravid said.
"They were coming in very quickly and obviously they were trying to push their over rate, which is fine, but you have got to give the batsmen a bit of time.
"After that I think they slowed it down a bit and gave us some time to look up. It was not a big issue."
It could be, however, for Ricky Ponting, who faces the largest penalties if the dawdling days were to continue,
Under ICC rules, if a team is five overs behind the required rate over the course of a match, then a captain is in line for a charge under the ICC code of conduct and possible suspension.
Lost overs less than five cost skippers ten per cent of a match fee, and the players five per cent.
- AAP
