Brett Lee

Brett Lee

Source: [1], 27 April 2006

Brett Lee (born November 8, 1976 in Wollongong, New South Wales) is an Australian cricketer.

He is an express fast bowler, and at his fastest is capable of bowling at 160 kilometres per hour (km/h) or 99 miles per hour (mph). His fastest recorded delivery to date is at 160.8km/hr which he bowled against Craig Cumming of New Zealand at Napier on March 5th 2005 in his first over. A natural and spirited athlete, Lee ranks with the Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar as the fastest bowler in contemporary cricket and one of the fastest the game has known, although Lee is said to bowl consistently faster spells than Akhtar and is considered by many batsmen as the faster of the two. Like Shoaib, his galloping run, from a long approach, and explosive delivery are among the most exciting sights in international sport. He is also an athletic fielder and aggressive lower-order batsman. He married Elizabeth Lee nee Kemp on June 3rd 2006.

Teams

International

• Australia (current)

Australian State

• New South Wales Blues (current)

Grade Cricket

• Campbelltown
• Mosman(current)

Early Career

Lee made his first-class debut for New South Wales as an eighteen year old in 1994 and quickly made an impression with his speed and hostility as a bowler. Brett's elder brother Shane also played for NSW and Australia. Lee also played for the Australian Under 17 & 19 teams along the likes of future Test team-mates Jason Gillespie and Mike Hussey.

On the 31st of January 2000, at the inaugural Allan Border Medal award ceremony, Lee was selected as the 2000 Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year.

Test Career

Early Test Career

By the late 1990s there were calls for him to be included in the national squad. He was eventually chosen in the final 14 for the Test series against Pakistan in 1999 but failed to make the final 11. Lee was again overlooked for the first Test against India where he was made twelfth man. He was then included in the national squad for the second Test and he duly made his Test debut for Australia in December 1999 against the touring Indians, bowling first change, Lee became the first Australian in 22 years to take a wicket in his first over in test cricket when he bowled Sadagopan Ramesh for four with his fourth delivery. He also claimed the scalp of Rahul Dravid for nine in his first spell before returning to snare three wickets in six balls to finish the innings with figures of 5/47 from 17 overs. He also made a valiant 27 runs before his magnificent display with the ball. Lee took thirteen wickets in his opening two Tests at the impressive average of 14.15.

In his first three series in the team Lee was outstanding, taking forty wickets in his opening seven Tests. In his seventh Test against the West Indies, he suffered a stress fracture of the lower back which kept him out of three following Tests. He returned against Zimbabwe but soon suffered another setback a month later when he broke his right elbow and was sidelined until May 2001.

Loss of Test Position

Lee returned to the international team on the 2001 Ashes tour of England after recovering from an elbow injury. His comeback saw less success than his debut, averaging more than 40 with the ball. However, Lee had a successful series against New Zealand later that year, where he captured 5 wickets in the second innings and made a handy contribution of 61 with the bat. His inconsistency continued throughout 2002 and 2003 and after two poor Test matches in late 2002 where he was axed in favour of Andy Bichel for two tests during the 2002 Ashes tour of Australia series but returned at the request of Steve Waugh for the Perth Test.

Against a vibrant Indian batting lineup in the 2003-04 home series Lee had extremely poor returns, including one of 4-201, this was due mainly to the fact that Lee had been playing with an injured ankle which required him to have cortisone shots for the pain. This resulted in him having a serious no-ball problem in the Sydney test and he was subsequently replaced by fellow fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz in 2004 during the tour of Sri Lanka when Lee's ankle injury worsened, forcing him to return home to have surgery. This injury would force Lee out of the game for 4 1/2 months to ensure his full recovery. A quick comeback into the Australian team proved difficult for Lee with the selectors opting for Michael Kasprowicz's 'workhorse' ability instead of the hostility and firepower of Lee. The 'Lee or Kasprowicz?' debate was a popular topic of debate for cricket commentators, journalists, analysts and fans alike. It was not until the first Test of the 2005 Ashes series, that he made his way back into the Australian team after impressive one-day form.

Lee's form in the Test arena had been inconsistent, and from 2001-2005, he had a Test bowling average of 38, compared to his career average of 31.45

Test Return

After 18 months on the sidelines and a plea to the selectors and media regarding his constant position as 12th man in the team, Lee returned to the Test team in the 2005 Ashes series. With Michael Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie both struggling for form and Australia's once threatening bowling attack looking one-paced, Lee overtook them as the leading Australian paceman behind Glenn McGrath. He averaged in the 40s with the ball for the series, but was retained, in part because of his stodgy batting but also due to his excellent pace and accuracy.

In the 2005 Australia-West Indies Test series, Lee has been credited as capturing fairly impressive form again highlighted by his second innings figures in the First Test of 5 for 30 from 14 overs. In the 2005-06 Australian cricket season, Lee's Test figures have improved significantly, with a season bowling average in the low 20s, compared to a career average of 31.

With the unavailability of Glenn McGrath for the tour of South Africa in March-April 2006, Lee became the spearhead of the Australian bowling lineup. In the second Test of that series, at Durban, Lee captured his 200th Test wicket in his 51st match. His form saw him named one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2006.

One day International Career

In one-day internationals Lee is widely regarded as one of the world's finest and most feared bowlers, he was ranked by the ICC as the NO. 1 ODI bowler in January 2006 and is consistently ranked by the ICC in the top ten, with a wide array of deliveries including a dangerous in-swinging yorker. His bowling strike rate of around 30 puts him amongst the most incisive in this form of the game. He also has a one-day international hat-trick to his name, achieved in the 2003 World Cup against Kenya. Lee was the first Australian and fourth bowler to ever achieve this feat in World Cup history.

Lee is also only behind Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq as the bowler with the second highest number of wickets after 99 ODI matches with 176 wickets. He surpassed Allan Donald as the fast bowler with the most number of wickets after 99 ODI matches.

Part of Lee's difficulty at Test level is his rare speed, although in recent times he has tried to concentrate solely on accuracy by reducing speed. During the first Test against the West Indies in late 2005 at the Gabba, Lee reverted to his initial style of bowling on the advice of his captain Ricky Ponting, which proved successful and earned him his fifth five wicket haul in Tests.

In the matches Australia played in the 2005-06 triangular one day series, Lee had been listed on Channel 9 team lists as an all-rounder. He gave an indication by making 57 in the second game in a 100 run partnership with Michael Hussey to pull Australia out of a middle order collapse (though they went on to lose the match). However, he is yet to consistently contribute with his batting, and his current ICC ranking hovers around the 90-100 region.

Lee finished the series with 15 wickets, the third highest tally behind Nathan Bracken and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Lee also has a devilish slower ball in which the amount of pace removed from the ball with no discernable change in grip or bowling action is one of the largest in world cricket. This ball can be anywhere from around 100km/h to around 125km/h and is used sparingly.

While Lee's average and strike rate in ODIs rank him as one of the best bowlers in ODI history (statistically), there is still an apparent erracticism with his bowling. At his best, he is an extremely damaging bowler and can rip through any batting line-up.

Lee also has the ability to take wickets very early in the innings, often removing batsmen in the first over of the innings.

Batting

Lee's batting has always shown potential and in recent times has been improving, averaging just over twenty in both forms of international cricket in the last two years. He has said that he would like to become an all rounder though it is not a main priority. During the 2005 Ashes Series, Lee had numerous defiant innings, and showed promise as a batsman. Lee's aggressive style and strong physique often yields many sixes, including one six which flew out of the Gabba (Brisbane), billed as the biggest six ever hit at that ground. The six in question went over the top of a stand or through a gap between two stands to land on top of the practise nets. On 2 April 2006, Lee hit his highest Test score of 64 in 68 balls against South Africa at Johannesburg. His previous highest score in Tests is 62* which he made against the West Indies in 2000 at the Gabba. Lee's highest score in ODI matches is 57 against South Africa at the Gabba in January 2006 with his previous best being 51 against South Africa in 2002.

Awards & Recognition

• The Donald Bradman Young Player of the Year 2000
• The Wisden Young Cricketer of the Year 1999-2000
• Nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the 2001 Laureus World Sports Awards
• Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2006
• Chosen in the ODI Team of the Year 2005 at the ICC Awards
• VB Series Player of the Year 2002-2003
• VB Series Player of the Year 2004-2005

Off The Field

Lee is part of the rock band Six & Out. The band is made up of his brother Shane and former New South Wales cricketers Brad McNamara, Gavin Robertson and Richard Chee Quee. Lee plays the bass guitar and acoustic guitar for the band. He also plays the piano and owns a black Bosendorfer grand piano.

He is also a blossoming entrepeneur with his own coffee shop called 'Fusions Café & Book Shop' and restaurant which specialises in Indian cuisine.

Lee has a keen interest in fashion and launched his own fashion label 'BL', in 2001. He designs all of the clothing on the label. He also does the modelling for the catalogs.

A few other hobbies of Lee's are freshwater fishing and surfing which he tries to fit in whenever he has time off.

He also had a cameo appearance in a short film called "dream date", written by respected journalist Shane Cubis and directed by Lee's childhood friend Adam Rainford.

His sponsorship deals include with the breakfast cereal Weet-Bix (which were at one time marketed as "Brett-Bix") and also the game Brett Lee's Backyard Cricket. He is also the Brand Ambassador for Timex watches in India. His other major sponsorship deals include Gatorade, New Balance, Volkswagen and Kookaburra. Lee uses the Kookaburra bat aptly called 'The Beast'.

Lee is also decidedly popular with female fans and is considered the 'pin-up boy' of Cricket. In 2001, Lee was voted runner-up in Cleo Magazine's annual Bachelor of the Year contest.

Charity Work

Brett Lee supports a number of charities. The main organisations that he contributes to are the Salvation Army, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Make a Wish Foundation. He began supporting ADRA along with his brother Shane when a close friend of theirs committed suicide. From that point, they became heavily involved in helping youths in the same crisis. In 2004, Lee took fourteen year old cancer patient Sarah Genuis to the Allan Border Medal award ceremony through the Make a Wish Foundation before her bone-marrow transplant.

He is also associated with charity auction site 'Youth Off The Streets' through his sponsor Gatorade whereby money is raised from auctioned memorabilia in order to provide a program for young people who have been excluded from the mainstream school system but want to acquire skills and an education.

Lee's band Six & Out also performs gigs for charity events and performed at the 'Cricket Rocks' children's cancer charity dinner which was hosted by Ricky Ponting and his wife Rianna.

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs India, Melbourne, 1999-2000

• Lee achieved bowling figures of 5/47 on debut.
• Lee's best Test bowling figures of 5 for 30 came against the West Indies, Brisbane, 2005
• Lee claimed his 100th wicket who was Marcus Trescothick in his 27th Test against England at Sydney in 2003.
• Lee took his 200th wicket who was Mark Boucher in his 51st Test against South Africa at Durban in 2006.
• His best Test batting score of 64 was made against South Africa, Johannesburg, 2006
• He made his 1000th test run in his 53rd Test against Bangladesh at Fatullah in 2006.

One-day Internationals

ODI Debut: vs Pakistan, Gabba, Brisbane, 1999-2000

• His best ODI bowling figures of 5 for 22 came against South Africa, Melbourne, 2005-2006
• Lee's best ODI batting score of 57 was made against South Africa, Gabba, 2005-2006
• Lee captured his 200th wicket who was Marcus Trescothick against England at Lord's in 2005.
• Lee has an ODI hat-trick, achieved during the 2003 Cricket World Cup against Kenya.

External links

• Cricinfo profile of Brett Lee
• Brett Lee's Designer label
• BrettLee.net - The Official Brett Lee Site
• HowSTAT! statistical profile of Brett Lee
• 'I Want To Have An Impact On Every Series' - Brett Lee
• Bachelors of the Year 2001

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