Australian captain Ricky Ponting, left, and bowler Brett Lee confer during the fourth day of the second cricket test match between India and Australia, in Mohali, India, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008. AP Photo/Gautam Singh
While there would’ve been much celebrating in the Australian dressing room following their demolition of England at Headingley, one tourist would have been feeling a bit empty, ‘tourist’ being the key word because that’s what Brett Lee has been for the past month.
Unless some sort of plague or curse affecting the Australian camp, the victory in Leeds ends any chance that Lee will be playing in the Fifth Test. And with it, could be Lee’s Test match career.
Stuart Clark came into the side and grasped his opportunity with both hands.
There was a huge question mark dangling over Mitchell Johnson but he re-found his mojo. With both Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus safe, that leaves no room for Lee.
Maybe Nathan Hauritz will be squeezed in, but that would be it.
Lee is the wrong side of 30, and is in fact, just three months short of his 33rd birthday. If he is patient, there is a chance he could play again.
But there is no certainty.
You have to feel for Lee. He spent a fair chunk of his career on the sidelines due to injury and not being able to break into the final eleven. Then in 2008, following the retirements of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, he shouldered the Australian attack.
Bowling a massive 580 overs in 14 matches was simply too much strain for his body and he developed a stress fracture and ankle injury. The most he had bowled before this was 378 overs across 10 matches in 2003.
The fracture broke in the Boxing Day Test Match, and he hasn’t played a Test match since.
So if this is the end of his career, what do we make of it? How will history assess him?
He is just the 23rd bowler and fourth Australian to capture 300 Test wickets. You don’t do that unless you are a good bowler.
Lee took 5 wickets in an innings 10 times but never managed a 10-for.
For all of his troubles, he wasn’t a fan favorite with a number of the punters. Some found his celebrations after taking a wicket obnoxious, while others thought he leaked runs too much. Though the statistics don’t really reflect this.
The fact remains is that he put his body on the line for Australia. He will still play the shorter forms of the game but don’t expect to see him again in Test matches.
That is, unless he takes up spin bowling.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Interesting thought,Timmuh,not so outlandish as some may think. However I still think Lee has a lot to offer Australian Cricket. If he has form and can prove he can bowl as in his pre injury prime he can still lead the attack in all forms. I dont believe he was at his fittest in India and it has been a year almost since he played New Zealand. So it is only less than a year since his last five fer. He is a sponsors dream and good luck to him . We need committed sponsors as well as committed cricketers.
Timmuh
Guest
Lee will get back in during the Australian summer, sponsors will demand it.
FIsher Price
Guest
Waqar pisses all over Lee.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Yes,he remodelld his action in 1972-73 after spending 18 months in a plaster cast from neck to hip. As a tearaway against the World XI in 1970-71 he started his run up near the sight screen and bowled as fas as anyone,including Thommo.When he came back after a brutal fitness regime under Dr Pyke he was now the complete fast bowler. Still in the mid 140's and possessing a deadly legcutter. Slightly more front on but still with that distinctive leap at the end. Even in 1981 he was steaming in from the Southern End on Boxing Day. After australia had collapsed to 198 just after tea to the quartet of Holding,Roberts,Croft and Garner,LIlle picked up two and Alderman one. Viv Richards came in at three down for ten and Lillee gave him three successive bouncers. Viv tried to hook them but missed all of them . The fourth ball was pitched up and Viv launched into a cover drive only to inside edge on to his stumps. Lillee kept running all the way back to the pavillion. A showman and the best fast bowler in the history of the game.
Brian
Guest
I found his celebrations obnoxious. I remember him producing the chainsaw once after getting rid of No XI Nantie Hayward & another time getting England's 4th wicket in an ODI when they needed like 8 runs with 6 wickets off 6 overs to win the game, which of course they did. Having said that he's committment is outstanding. It would be hard to begrudge him if he joined Murali, Flintoff & Co and decided that this Test cricket business is all a bit of hard work when there are IPL millions to be made.
MyGeneration
Roar Guru
Wasn't Lillee forced to remodel his action after he broke his back (not recommending this as a career move for Binga though)?
Jerry G
Guest
A better comparison would be Jeff Thompson. Lethal when bowling express pace but once he lost that snap, he had nothing to fall back on. Spiro's point was Lilllee and Hadlee, unlike Lee, both realised that that they wouldn't be nasty fasties for long and worked on line, length and variation. Your point, if I read it right, is that neither of them were ever 150+kph express bowlers which they weren't. However, that doesn't mean that Lee couldn't have emulated their achievements (or Glenn McGrath's as another example) in becoming better bowlers by slowing down.
marees
Guest
It is wrong to compare Lee to Lillee or Hadlee. It is probably more accurate to compare him to Thomson, Waqar, Shoaib Akhtar or Shaun Tait. I dont think Johnson is any more accurate than Lee. But he is fitter and able to manage more swing with the new ball, which Lee is not able to do. There is always a risk that Johnson can break down again. Then the selectors would need to consider Lee. It would be wrong to consider Johnson's batting and select him inspite of his poor bowling.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Spiro,I hope New Zealand manage Shane Bond a bit better because he too ,is an out and out pace bowler. He has had injuries and a period of ostracisation. He will be in action in Sri Lanka and I am looking forward to his return. I rank him higher than Steyn. I feel for Lee because he was a cricketer that always had a smile and was emminently approachable. I do hope he has a role to play in the ODI's as I feel he is better suited to the one day format at this stage of his career. I would be happy for him to prove us wrong and come back as a force in Tests but I think his time has passed.
Spiro Zavos
Expert
Brett Lee was never able to re-invent himself from a tear-away fast bowler into a deadly fastish length and line bowler like Lillee or Hadlee. Once he broke down and couldn't ball fast he was virtually finished. Just watching the film clips of him bowling in the nets before the Headingley Test suggested that he still is suffering from the strains and tears that come with bowling fast for many years. T20 cricket seems to be the best bet for him, as his batting still has a lot of potential in it.
FIsher Price
Guest
Aside from his first 18 months of Test cricket, and a spell a couple of years back where he made up for his lack of 5-fors by cashing in against the Windies (home and away), he's been merely a slightly-above-average performer, as evidenced by his being found out on numerous overseas tours.
Brett McKay
Guest
It's certainly hard to see a way back for Lee, which seems almost unfathomable for someone with 500+ international wickets to his name. If Hilditch can't guarantee Stuart Clark's spot for The Oval (and what more does a guy need to do?), then it would appear Lee is ranked No.5 at best in terms of the Test quicks. I do suspect however that if his economy rate was closer to 3 than 4, he'd be straight back in once fit... That all said, how good would it be to see a Lee-Clark-Johnson attack again?!?
eric
Guest
Good comments all. Brett Lee had a big ticker and played the game in the right way. (Remember Benaud's comment "show me a fast bowler without a temper and I'll show you a medium pacer") I thought he suffered from bad captaincy, where he was expected to blast out batsmen with short stuff, yet he was rarely given protection at third man and fine leg. Lee could swing the ball both ways, and I think he could be like Dale Steyn. Pitch it up outside off, moving both ways at 140km plus, be content for the batsmen to leave a few, and set fields to suit. Unfortunately for Lee, at the moment I am not captain of Aust or NSW.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Brett Lee IS an out and out good bloke. It may not be widely known but he recently sponsored a clean drinking water project in an Indian village. David,it will be sad,but I agree he may have played his last Test for Australia. One of the incumbent pacemen would have to "break a leg" for him to come back. Cricket Australia must take some of the blame as they have treated a thorughbred like a cart horse in a stone quarry.
matty p
Guest
Agreed Mac. When the chips were down BLee was someone you always felt would give his all and go down guns blazing if it came to it. Met him in St Kitts during the world cup 2 years back, he couldn't have been more accomodating signing autographs and chatting with my sons. If only the same could have been said for some of his teams mates who have well-deserved reputations for arrogance.
mactheblack
Roar Pro
I agree Lee will find himself a spent force in Tests as Aussies now have something to build on. Cricket purists, having to put up with the erratic Akhtars and Harmisons of the world, it is always great for us to see Brett Lee steaming into the crease at full tilt, putting back the excitement into the art of fast bowling. An out an out quick, this guy always seemed to put 110 per cent into his bowling effort and should be applauded for that. Never mind the wicket-taking histrionics, we've seen far worse on a cricket field. Lee could also wield the willow and he saved the Aussies' blushes in many a Test innings. It's funny to observe how when top Aussie cricketers seem to be on the wane, the extent to which they are criticised. Many forget the contributions cricketers like Brett have made to the game of cricket. I think Brett put his body on the line with every delivery he bowled and probably didn't get the number of Test wickets he deserved. More than 300 Test wickets takes some doing though. And though being part of at times abrasvie Aussie sides, Lee according to feedback is a good approachable bloke. At many Test venues he could apparently be seen signing autographs for the kids during breaks in play. A Test career on the wane indeed, but should the axe fall, I don't think anyone can deny his total commitment to the art of fast bowling, as well as to Australia's cause. I wonder if the same could be said of many of his fast-bowling counterparts in world cricket today.