Brett Lee

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 160.8 km/h which he bowled against Craig Cumming of New Zealand at Napier on March 5th 2005 in his first over. [Lee Unleashes His Fastest Delivery]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 25 June 2006. A natural and spirited athlete, Lee ranks with the Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar as the fastest bowler in contemporary cricket [Brett Lee Profile]: Yehhaicricket.com Retrieved 27 June 2006. and one of the fastest the game has known. Lee has been described by many, including former Australian Test cricketer Darren Lehmann as "faster than Shoaib"[Lehmann: Lee Is Quicker Than Akhtar]: BrettLee.net, retrieved 28 June 2006 and "consistently faster and more accurate than Shoaib Akhtar" by Cricinfo writer Mark Ray. [Face The Music]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 28 June 2006. Like Shoaib, his galloping run, from a long approach, and explosive delivery are among the most exciting sights in international sport. [Akhtar and Lee Not The Best, Says Garner] Cricinfo.com Retrieved 27 June 2006. [Lee Shows Me The Way Back] BrettLee.net Retrieved 27 June 2006. 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)

Childhood and Early Career

During the school holidays, the young Lee brothers enjoyed soccer, basketball and skiing and were encouraged to play the piano by their mother. Brett Lee was introduced to the game of cricket at the tender age of eight by his brother Shane and showed an instant talent for it. He played his first 'actual' game of cricket for the Oak Flats Rats where he took 6/0 from one over or 6 wickets for 0 runs, all of his wickets being bowled. Members of the opposition started crying and parents began complaining about Lee's pace.

At sixteen years of age, Lee began playing first grade cricket for Campbelltown, where he managed to claim the wickets of a few New South Wales cricketers. He later on joined Mosman, where at one point, he shared the new ball with pace rival Shoaib Akhtar. [Lee and Shoaib May Soon Operate Together] Hinduonnet.com Retrieved 27 June 2006.

Lee also played for the Australian Under 17 & 19 teams along the likes of future Test team-mates Jason Gillespie and Mike Hussey. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the AIS/Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy with Simon Katich and Brad Haddin.

In March 1994, Lee was selected in the Australian under-19 team to tour India but soon after he was forced out of the cricket scene due to stress fractures in his lower back. However, this did not deter him from achieving his cricket aspirations. He made his first-class debut for New South Wales against Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match as a 20-year old in the 1997–98 season and quickly made an impression with his speed and hostility as a bowler.

One month later, Lee was chosen to represent the Australian A team on a tour to South Africa. He claimed two wickets but in that very match, stress fractures in his back from the previous injury had re-opened and Lee was in a back brace for over three months. He then returned to work at Barclay's menswear as a suit salesman where he had gained employment six months earlier. When he turned twenty-one, Lee moved to Sydney to be closer to work and he shared a flat with former New South Wales cricketer, Rod Davison.

In 1999, during a Sheffield Shield match at Perth, Lee had launched an astonishing onslaught on the Western Australian batsmen, the fastest bowling seen in Australia since the days of Jeff Thomson back in the 1970s. He broke Jo Angel's arm. From that point, Steve Waugh and then vice-captain Shane Warne began pushing for Lee's inclusion in the Test team.

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. By the time the Test series against India came around, he was twelfth man. However, he duly made his Test debut for Australia in December 1999 against the touring Indians, becoming Australia's 383rd Test cricketer.

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 Sadagoppan 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. Australia had batted first, and Lee made 27 runs before his debut five-for. Lee took thirteen wickets in his opening two Tests at the impressive average of 14.15.

Lee won the inaugural Donald Bradman Young Player of the Year Award at the Allan Border Medal award ceremony in 2000 soon after debut.

Lee took 40 wickets in his opening three series, the most by any Australian bowler in the seven matches he played.[Statsguru - B Lee - Test Bowling - Match by match list], from Cricinfo, retrieved 26 June 2006 However, in his seventh Test, where he took seven wickets including a second-innings five-for in an innings victory 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 only took five wickets in a match on three occasions between the New Zealand series and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. After taking five wickets in the three-Test series against Pakistan in 2002, he was dropped in favour of Andy Bichel for two tests during the 2002–03 Ashes series. He returned for the Perth Test, after claiming a five wicket haul in a Pura Cup match against Queensland for New South Wales.

Against the Indian batting lineup in the 2003-04 home series, which ended in a 1–1 draw for Australia, Lee was out of the first two Tests recovering from a torn abdominal muscle, an injury which he sustained during Australia's Test series against Zimbabwe in October 2003. [Injury Dashes Lee's Passage To India]: SMH.com.au Retrieved 27 June 2006. At that point in time, Lee decided to undergo surgery to partially repair 'posterior ankle impingement', a condition that Lee was suffering with prior to the Test series against Zimbabwe as well as surgery to repair his torn abdominal muscle. This was done so that recovery for both injuries would run concurrently. [Ankle Operation For Brett Lee]: BrettLee.net Retrieved 28 June 2006.

Lee took eight wickets in over 100 overs in the final two, after conceding 24 no balls in the final Test at Sydney, a side-effect of Lee's improperly recovered ankle. [Lee Problem Just A Matter Of Practice] BrettLee.net Retrieved 28 June 2006.

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 July 2001 to January 2004, he had a Test bowling average of 38.42,[Statsguru - B Lee - Tests - Innings by innings list], from Cricifno, retrieved 26 June 2006 compared to his career average of 31.45.

Test Return

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, after declaring that he would sacrifice pace and focus on 'line and length', [Lee Opts For Line And Length]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 25 June 2006. Lee reverted to his initial style of bowling, based on the advice of his captain Ricky Ponting after his new method of bowling failed in the first innings. [I'm There To Bowl Fast - Lee]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 25 June 2006. This proved successful and earned him his fifth five wicket haul in Tests.

Against the West Indies, Lee was credited with 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.

During South Africa's 2005-2006 tour of Australia, Lee's form saw a steady improvement, with Lee capturing figures of 5/93 in the first test at Perth. He finished the three Test series with 13 wickets and of the Australian bowlers, was second only to Shane Warne's 14 wickets in the series.

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. [Lee The Leader Ready For Life Without McGrath]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 26 June 2006. In the second Test of that series, at Durban, Lee captured his 200th Test wicket in his 51st match and also captured figures of 5 for 69, on the back of 49 Test wickets in 2005 - more than or equal to anyone who have won the Wisden Cricketer of the Year award at the time[2005 Calendar Year Test Bowling - Most Wickets], from Cricinfo, retrieved 26 June 2006 - he received that accolade in 2006. During that match, Lee also proved that along with his good form, he was still capable of bowling as fast as he is reputed to bowl.[Lightning Lee Inspires Australia]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 25 June 2006.

One Day International Career

Brett Lee made his debut in one-day internationals for Australia against Pakistan on January 9th 2000 during the Carlton and United Series at The Gabba, Brisbane. He became the 140th ODI cricketer to represent Australia. 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 [Lee, Gilchrist Top ICC ODI Rankings] Rediff.com Retrieved 25 June 2006. and has been ranked among the top ten ODI bowlers since the start of 2003. He has 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.

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 100 km/h to around 125 km/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, there is sometimes 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. [Lee Poised To Recap Career At Lord's]: BrettLee.net Retrieved 26 June 2006.

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. [Lee's Sizzling Six Nearly Cleanbowled Big Carl] BrettLee.net Retrieved 27 June 2006

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 was 62 not out 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 2002-03
• VB Series Player of the Year 2004–05

Off The Field

He is also a blossoming entrepeneur with his own coffee shop called 'Fusions Café & Book Shop' [Quick Brett Lee Goes Espresso] BrettLee.net Retrieved 25 June 2006. and his own restaurant which specialises in Indian cuisine, inspired by Lee's love for Indian food.

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

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. [Bachelors of the Year 2001] Retrieved 23 June 2006.

Endorsements

Brett Lee's sponsorship deals include with the breakfast cereal Sanitarium's Weet-Bix (which were at one time marketed as "Brett-Bix") and Gatorade. His other major sponsorship deals are Volkswagen, of which Lee has two vehicles: the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Volkswagen Touareg, UVEX Safety Eyewear and cricket equipment manufacturer Kookaburra. Lee uses the Kookaburra bat aptly called 'The Beast'. Travelex has also developed the game Brett Lee's Backyard Cricket in which a caricature of Lee is featured.

Due to Lee's immense popularity in India, [Worlds Apart]: Cricinfo.com Retrieved 27 June 2006. he has a number of major sponsorship deals there. Lee is the Brand Ambassador for Timex watches in India and New Balance shoes. He is also sponsored by Boost, an energy drink sold in India and by TVS Motor Company (TVS-M).

Some of his past sponsors are BMW, which gifted Lee with a BMW Z3 convertible sports car, Bolle Sunglasses and Hasbro toys and Vortex of which there is a range of products using the fastbowler's image.

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.[Batting For At-Risk Youth] Signsofthetimes.org.au Retrieved 26 June 2006. 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. [Ace Brett Lee Makes Wish Come True] BrettLee.net Retrieved 25 June 2006.

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

• Lee achieved bowling figures of five for 47 on debut.
• Lee's best Test bowling figures of five for 30 came against the West Indies at The Gabba, Brisbanein 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

• His best ODI bowling figures of five 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.

References

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]

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