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Australia's first Test preparations have been thrown into chaos with Brett Lee complaining of pain down his left side. Lee was absent from Australia's training session on Monday at Sophia Gardens while going to London for scans on the injury.

A team spokesman said the extent of Lee's problem would be known by Monday night or Tuesday morning. However, just two days out from the first Ashes Test, he seems almost certainly out of the opening game and his future in the remainder of the series may also be under threat.

Team-mates are concerned about his fitness and were only told of the problem on Monday morning. "It's not looking great," one said.

Lee was Australia's best bowler in the tour match against England Lions in Worcester, claiming 6 for 76 in the first innings and displaying a mastery of reverse-swing. Prior to the injury, he seemed certain to partner Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle in Australia's pace attack in Cardiff, with Stuart Clark and Nathan Hauritz duelling for the final bowling position, but those plans could now be destined for the shredder.

"He has a sore left rib, but we won't know the extent of it until the scans are back," an Australian team spokesman said. "We're in a holding pattern until then."

Lee, Australia's most senior bowler with 310 wickets from 76 Tests, only recently returned to action after undergoing foot and ankle surgery following the Boxing Day Test against South Africa. The tour matches against Sussex and England Lions were his first outings outside of Twenty20 competition this year, and his display in Worcester last week had prompted many to feel that he was nearing peak form.

"I have not trained for 25 weeks to sit on the sidelines," Lee said last week, but it is looking the most likely scenario. If a replacement is required Doug Bollinger, the left-armer from New South Wales, is next in line after touring South Africa earlier in the year and making his Test debut in January.