Watson swears he saw ghosts outside his hotel room

London: After four consecutive defeats in a week, Australian cricketers have started seeing ghosts.

Allrounder Shane Watson was so scared at the prospect of spending the night in the Lumley Castle hotel in Chester-le-Street, where Australians are staying before Thursday?s tri-series game against England, that he moved to teammate Brett Lee?s room, according to a newspaper report.

?I saw ghosts. I swear I?m telling the truth. I closed the blind in my room before I went to bed. But when I was awoken at 4 am by my phone, the blind was open again.

?I looked out the window and saw a procession of white people walking past. It was amazing, very scary. I know I wasn?t dreaming because I wrote down the message from my phone and the time. Certainly when I started to tell my story a lot of them didn?t want to know the details,? Watson said.

The hotel, said to be haunted by the ghost of a 14th century aristocrat murdered by Catholic priests, also spooked the West Indies cricketers when they stayed there five years ago.

Three of them had moved out then, said a report on Wednesday.

Back to business, Australia look set to let Lee loose against England after he underwent a fitness test on his sore shoulder.

Lee bowled off his full run-up on Tuesday and did not feel any pain. ?He?s been responding really well, I?m really happy with his progress,? Australian physiotherapist Errol Alcott said.

Alcott said Lee would train again to see if there was a reaction but was unlikely to bowl again at full pace.

The strike bowler missed Australia?s first two games of the series ? a shock defeat by Bangladesh and a narrow loss to England ? after being hit on the shoulder by a delivery from Andrew Flintoff in last week?s Twenty20 match.

That blow aggravated an old injury when Lee had suffered a ligament strain in the shoulder.

(AGENCIES)