My first sighting of Brett Lee was when I was on tour with Pakistan in England in 2001. We were playing a Triangular series against Australia and England. He was in the Australian squad and we had heard that this kid had real pace.
We weren’t disappointed. he was quick, had plenty of presence, and he ran in with real intent.
We had Shoaib Akhtar in our squad, so there was a real sense of a ‘Pace Race’ on – the two fastest quicks on the block seeing who could out bowl the other.
He has gone on to become one of Australian cricket’s greatest fast bowlers in both Test and One Day cricket.
As with all the great fast bowlers, there is the breathtaking spectacle of watching a thoroughbred athlete bowling as fast as is humanly possible.
Wild and woolly at the beginning of his international career, Lee has added speed and a definite ‘fear’ factor to the Australian attack, which was operating mainly in the fast medium category on his arrival.
Brett Lee Hat Trick
Brett Lee: Mental Game
Brett Lee’s strategic game plan has grown and evolved as he has matured.
In his formative years a reliance on speed and fast bowlers’ lengths, short and full, has been replaced by an awareness of strategy and wearing the batter down psychologically.
Setting goals for a spell, the innings and the match, and breaking them down into process and outcpome goals.
As he has got older he has learnt to control his emotions better,quietening his mind for a spell, keeping his focus on his process goals, the things he has to do to build pressure and take wickets.
Lee has also taken a leaf from the book of his great fast bowling partner Glenn McGrath, developing the ability to find and hold the optimal length on any given wicket, sitting on the batter with patience, bowling at speed but forcing the batter into error rather than trying to bowl too much variation.
With the advent of 20 20 cricket Brett has been challenged again to develop his game. He has responded superbly, highlighted by a matchwinning performance in the final of the inaugural Champions League 20 20 competition in India.
Not only was he superb with the ball, but Lee backed this up with a calm match winning performance with the bat.
The ability to bowl fast, with the added weapons of variation of pace, changing the pace up and down, and of express yorkers, has seen him develop into one of the world’s most complete fast bowlers.
Brett Lee: Bowling Technique
Brett Lee’s action has always been a fantastic spectacle as he enters his bound from a long, smooth accelerating run up.
He isn’t classically sideways on in the Waqar Younis mode, he is more a front on bowler, running through the crease. He keeps the ball close to his body in his load up and then, in something which is unique to Brett, he pulls the arm down vertically in its rotation and brings it through into its release.
I am not convinced that this adds to his bowling technique. It certainly doesn’t seem to have subtracted from it, because the results over his career speak for themselves.
Cricket Strength and Conditioning
As far as strength and conditioning goes, Brett Lee has always been the supreme athlete. He has understood the rigours of fast bowling and managed himself like an athlete.
He has been hampered by constant ankle problems and has come back from surgery on many occasions, finally making the decision to retire from Test cricket to be able to reduce the volume of bowling he does and continue his international career in the One Day and 20 20 cricket formats
Genuine all rounder status he hasn’t quite achieved, but he is not far off: a wonderful striker of the ball in the short formats and he’s able to bat with recognised batters in test matches. He has worked diligently to broaden his game and add extra dimensions to it.
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About Richard Pybus
I'm Richard Pybus, I've coached Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middlesex, Titans and the Cape Cobras in South Africa and the goal of this site is to help you to play winning cricket.