18 Facts about Brett Lee: The Speed Demon from Australia

Published - 08 Nov 2015, 12:24 IST | Updated - 08 Nov 2015, 12:24 IST

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18 Facts about Brett Lee: The Speed Demon from Australia: After the retirement of Jeff Thompson, Australia had to wait for nearly two decades to produce a pacer who can terrorize the opposition with sheer pace. And they got their answer in the form of Brett Lee. One of the greatest fast bowlers in the modern era, Brett Lee was the perfect yang for McGrath’s ying, and became an integral part of the team which went on to conquer the cricketing world.

1. Birth

Brett Lee was born on 8^th November 1976, in Wollongong, New South Wales

2. Early Career

Brett Lee started his cricketing career by playing for a junior team of the local side, Oak Flats Rats. Gradually, he rose through the ranks by playing first-grade cricket for Campbelltown.

3. First Class Debut

After some impressive performances for the u-17 and u-19 Australian teams, Brett Lee was included in the NSW squad for Sheffield Shield. Brett Lee made his debut against Western Australia, picking up 3 wickets for 114.

4. International Debut

Steve Waugh, the-then captain of the Australian cricket team, was impressed with Lee’s performances for NSW, and pushed for his selection for the national team. After a couple of matches wherein he had to be on the sidelines, Brett Lee made his Test debut against India in 1999. Brett Lee had an impressive debut, picking up 7 wickets in the Test, including a 5 wicket haul in the first innings. He was the first Australian bowler since Dennis Lillee to pick up a five-wicket haul on debut. He made his ODI debut against Pakistan in 2000.

5. Recognition for outstanding performances

Brett Lee won the inaugural Don Bradman young player of the year award for his outstanding performances in 1999-2000 season. In 7 matches he played, he picked up an incredible tally of 42 wickets, the most by an Australian bowler for the same number of matches played.

6. Injury and Comeback

In the late 2000s, a stress facture, followed by a broken elbow ruled him out of action for almost a year. He returned to international cricket for the 2001 Ashes series, albeit a very modest return. But he got his mojo back against New Zealand, where he ended up the highest wicket taker with 14 wickets in 3 Tests.

7. 2003 Cricket World Cup

Brett Lee was at his lethal best in the 2003 World Cup, wherein the Aussies steamrolled every opposition they met with. Lee ended up with 22 wickets in the tournament, sitting second on the list of most number of wickets in the tournament. It included a lethal hattrick against the Kenyans in a super six match.

8. Loss of form and injury

Post the World Cup success, Brett Lee had a mediocre series against the visiting Indians. After missing out on the first two Tests, Lee made a comeback in the final two Test matches. Despite picking up 8 wickets, the Indian batsmen made merry against him. After another injury which worsened his ankle condition, he was subsequently left out of the Test squad in 2004, and remained in the sidelines for more than a year.

9. Return to form

After a few experimentations with his bowling style, Lee gradually returned to form in the 2005-06 season. After a decent Ashes series which made headlines for its competitiveness, he had a good series against the visiting South Africans, picking up 13 wickets in the 3-match series.

10. Peak form and injury blues, again

After the retirement of Aussie greats McGrath and Warne, Lee took up the responsibility of leading the attack, performing admirably well against Sri Lanka and India, also receiving a man of the series for the latter. Also, he was named as one of the 5 Wisden Cricketers of the year for his performances.

11. Continued ODI success

Brett Lee, despite his injury concerns as far as the longer formats were concerned, was consistently good in the shorter formats. Despite being usurped by the younger blood in Tests, Lee continued to spearhead the ODI attack. He had a dream series in England, and in the process became the first bowler ever to take more than one 5-wicket haul at Lord’s.

12. Record maker

In 2007, Brett Lee became the first ever person to take a T20 hattrick, which came against Bangladesh.

13. Retirement from Longer format

After a career-threatening back injury in 2008, Lee failed to make a comeback into the Test team. In 2010, aged 34, he realized his failing fitness and after consulting with Andrew Flintoff, Lee retired from Test Cricket in 2010. He played 76 Tests for Australia, picking up 310 wickets @30.

14. 2011 World Cup

Despite competition from youngsters, Brett Lee made it to the 2011 WC squad. He had a great tournament, despite Australia being knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals. He ended the tournament as Australia’s highest wicket taker, with 13 wickets.

15. International retirement

Brett Lee retired from international cricket in 2012, playing his last ODI against England in July. He ended up playing 76 Tests, 221 ODIs, and 25 T20Is. He is one of the few selected players to have taken 300+ wickets in both the formats and at 380 wickets, he is the second highest wicket taker for Australia in ODIs.