BRETT LEE

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

After breaking into the Australian Test team, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket. In each of his first two years, he averaged less than 20 with the ball, but since then has mostly achieved figures in the early 30s.^[1]

He is an athletic fielder and useful lower-order batsman, with a batting average exceeding 20 in Test cricket. Together with Mike Hussey, he has held

Style

Lee is a fast bowler, one of the fastest the game has known, and at his peak was capable of bowling at 161 km/h (99 mph). Lee's fastest recorded delivery to date is 160.8 km/h (99.9 mph) which he bowled in his first over on March 5, 2005 at Napier, New Zealand against Craig Cumming.^[3]

Lee ranked with Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar as the fastest bowler in contemporary cricket during most of this decade.^[4] Akhtar's delivery at 161.3km/h (100.2mph) stands as the fastest recorded to date.^[5]

Early in his career, Lee was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action, but was cleared.^[6] He was also criticised in early 2005 for bowling a series of beamers at batsmen during ODIs, at a rate which lead some to claim he was deliberately bowling illegal head high full tosses at batsmen.^[7][8]

Lee is at his most effective on the pitches of the southern hemisphere, where the pitches have greater bounce. In the northern hemisphere, he has taken 53 wickets in 19 Tests at an average of 42.11. In the southern hemisphere, he has taken 178 wickets in 40 matches at 28.48. He has had the most success against the West Indies and New Zealand, averaging in the low twenties. He averages more than 40 against England, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and in the 30s against other teams. record for highest 7th wicket partnership for Australia in ODIs since 2005–06 (123)

Personal

Lee married Elizabeth Kemp in June 2006. They have a son named Preston Charles, born 16 November 2006. However, after two years of marriage, on 21 August 2008, Lee confirmed his separation from Kemp.[1]. They divorced in 2009.

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 or acoustic guitar for the band.^[35]

During the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India, Lee recorded a duet with India's music diva Asha Bhosle called You're the One For Me.^[36] The song reached a peak position of number two on the Indian and South African charts. In 2008, he filmed scenes for his first Bollywood movie Victory.^[37][38] He once hosted a short-lived TV program called "Personal Best". ^[39]

Lee launched his own fashion label 'BL', in 2001.

Career highlights

[edit]Tests

• Lee's best Test bowling figures of five for 30 came against the West Indies at The Gabba, Brisbane in 2005
• Lee's 100th wicket was Marcus Trescothick in his 27th Test against England at Sydney in 2003
• Lee took his 200th wicket, 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 1,000th Test run in his 53rd Test against Bangladesh at Fatullah in 2006
• Lee's 250th wicket was Anil Kumble in his 62nd Test against India at Melbourne in 2007
• Lee's 300th wicket was Jamie How in his 73rd Test against New Zealand at Brisbane on 22 November 2008

[edit]One-day Internationals

ODI Debut: vs Pakistan, Gabba, Brisbane, 1999–00

• His best ODI bowling figures of five for 22 came against South Africa, Melbourne
• Lee's best ODI batting score of 57 was made against South Africa, Gabba, 2005–06
• Lee's 100th ODI wicket was Andrew Caddick, against England at the M.C.G. in 2003
• Lee's 200th wicket was Marcus Trescothick, against England at Lord's in 2005
• Lee's 300th wicket was Darren Sammy, against West Indies at St George's in 2008
• Lee is the first (and currently the only) bowler to take 5 wickets twice in one-day internationals played at Lord's ^[44]

[edit]Other

• Lee was the first player in Twenty20 International cricket to take a Hat-trick.
• Lee plays for the Kings XI Punjab team owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia in the Indian Premier League
• Soon after Lee was selected for Australia, a greyhound racer was named after him and is regarded as one of the best greyhounds in Australian history having won 31 of 39 races including four Group 1 events and 7 track records