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Let’s get this out of the way early: I don’t like Brett Lee, and I never have. I think he’s overrated and he pretty much always has been.
Now I know he’s got over 300 test wickets, he’s one of only three bowlers averaging over 30 (Harbajan Singh and Dan Vettori the others) and he’s got a very good average (and strike rate) in ODI’s, amongst the best ever.
Nevertheless, I believe he’s a one trick pony and the other teams have worked him out. He has taken a lot of wickets recently, but when Australia really needs him to stand up and be counted he goes for 6 or 7 or 10 an over.
Thinking back over his career in ODI’s, my strongest (and most frustrating) memory is of Lee steaming in and bowling those appalling full toss balls when a yorker was called for.
Just bowling fast is not enough when Pollard (or Jayasuria, or Kohli etc) are throwing the bat. That’s when you need smarts and the ability to bowl the unexpected delivery. And as nice as he is, Lee appears to have no smarts.
Over the past year I’d argue that Lee has become bereft of ideas, anytime someone collars him early there’s no comeback. Sure he might take some wickets, but he doesn’t slow the rate and ulitimately in ODI cricket run rate is very important.
And who cares that he scored 59 runs the other day? The fact is he was our most expensive bowler and our batsmen failed in some small part because there were just too many runs to chase. (Don’t get me started on the batsmen, that’s a whole other article.)
I’d argue that anyone can score runs when not under real pressure, even McGrath has a test 50.
And so to the crucial question – is Brett Lee really going to win us a World Cup? On present form, and given how the opposition batsmen seem to have a plan to deal with him, no.
Why is he in the side? Is it so that he can lead the attack? Perhaps to give the younger bowlers the benefit of his experience? On present form it must be more “Do as I say, not as I do”. Surely a coach can do this just as well.
If we’re going to lose anyway, why not give a younger bowler the experience? How is it that Faulkner, Hogan, Bird, McDermott, Coulter-Nile, Cutting, etc aren’t getting a game? At least they will still be playing in two or three years time!
And then there’s the chainsaw… that alone should have seen him consigned to the “never to play for Australia again” list years ago.
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