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| July 20, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 12, 1426 |
Lee ready for fiery bouncer battle against England
LONDON, July 19: Brett Lee has insisted he will not beat himself up if his 18 month Test exile doesn’t end in the first Ashes encounter at Lord’s starting on Thursday — but he is prepared for a thorough going over by England’s pace attack if makes it into the starting side.
Lee has missed Australia’s last 17 Tests, an ankle injury and the subsequent good form of Michael Kasprowicz keeping him on the sidelines.
But that hasn’t stopped England’s attack unleashing a series of bouncers at Lee during the opening one-day stage of Australia’s tour, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff hitting him in the right shoulder with the first ball he faced against the ‘old enemy’ in last month’s Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl.
That kept the fast bowler - one of only two men along with Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar to have broken the 100mph barrier in match conditions — out of the subsequent fixtures against Somerset.
But the 28-year-old New South Wales quick told reporters at the squad’s hotel he was ready for a few more bruises.
“I’ve been a person that’s bowled a few short balls in my time and I’ve been a person whose copped a few. That’s all part of cricket.
“I know England has tried to bounce our our tail to put us on the back-foot and get us out as cheaply as possible. But we’ve got some plans against their tail too.
“It doesn’t fire me up. It’s not the most pleasant thing, getting hit by 156 grams of leather and cork at over 90mph. It’s not great but you know it is part of the game.
“Intimidatory bowling is bowling to a plan and the plan is to get the batsman out. Provided you go by the rules there’s nothing wrong with it.
“It’s Test match cricket and the reason why is because it’s a test, a test of character, a test of commitment and a test of courage.”
Meanwhile Lee, who made an early impression on the tour during the one-dayers, insisted he’d become a better player during his Test absence and was adamant there was nothing more he could have done to regain his place in the five-day side.
“Whatever happens on Thursday morning, I can go to sleep a happy person knowing I’ve done my very best.
“I think over the past 18 months, as much as it might be hard to admit it, it’s been a great learning curve and I think I’ve matured a lot more as a person and definitely as a cricketer.”
And Lee added he’d give up all his speed records for the honour of starring at Lord’s, where Australia last lost a Test in 1934.
“I’d like to be a bowler who takes wickets,” said Lee, who has taken 139 wickets at 31.66 in 37 Tests.
“My aim as a young kid was to bowl 160kph or 100mph. I’ve achieved that on a few occasions. It was a great personal record but I’d give all that back to take five wickets in a Lord’s Test. It would be pretty nice to say you’ve done that at the home of cricket.
“But the reason I’m in the Australian team is to bowl fast and take wickets. There’s no reason why I’ll slow down to 80mph and shape the ball.”
Australia have won the last eight Ashes series, a run stretching back nearly 20 years.
But with England having won their last five Test series, Lee said: “It’s the first time in a number of decades that both teams have been so close to being level.
“We’re up against a team that’s got some fantastic bowlers, Stephen Harmison, Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard, that can bowl a heavy ball at over 90 mph.
“It’s tough playing against a guy like Harmison whose 6ft 4, he’s got the Curtly Ambrose type of trajectory off the pitch which can be very hard to face and on these seeming English wickets can be a bit of a handful.
“And England have got someone to back him up. You think you’ve done the hard work if you’re Matthew Hayden, or Ricky Ponting or Justin Langer to get through Harmison. You get down the other end and you’ve got Flintoff.
“It’s a bit like groundhog day. It just doesn’t end. We’ve got our work cut out. There’ll definitely be fireworks on Thursday morning.
Lee admitted it had been tough competing for a place alongside Kasprowicz, who he stress deserved “full credit” for his Test displays in recent months.
“I think that what makes it hard, that we all are so close. The FBC, the fast bowling cartel as the boys call it, we are a very tight-knit unit and sometimes tough in the paper when you read we (Lee and Kasprowicz) are competing for that one spot. But it makes us work harder.
“But saying that it’s sport and that’s why we play sport. Nothing would be worse than if it was plain sailing all the time.”
However, he added: “Hopefully when I do finish this will only a small blip on the radar. My aim is to get back in the Australian team as soon as possible.”—AFP
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