This is not the end of me: Brett Lee

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 24, 2010

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Sydney: Following in the footsteps of good friend Andrew Flintoff, who retired from Test cricket last year to prolong his Twenty20 and one-day career, Australian speedster Brett Lee announced his retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday to prolong his career in the shorter formats of the game.

“This is not the end of me. It’s a cricket choice and it’s a lifestyle choice,” said the 33-year-old fast bowler.

“To me, Test cricket is my favourite part of the game, wearing the baggy green cap,” he told Sky News. “But if I’m going to keep playing cricket for another few years, something had to give.”

Lee, considered one of the fastest bowlers ever in the history of the game, took 316 wickets in 76 test matches since making his debut in 1999 against India, making him Australia’s fourth most successful test bowler behind Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.

Lee said his best memory was his first Test wicket, which came when he bowled Sadagoppan Ramesh in his opening over on debut at the MCG in 1999-2000. “At that point I could’ve hung up the boots just then,” he said.

The speedster hasn’t played a Test match since December 2008, when he suffered severe foot injury during the Boxing Day match against South Africa in Melbourne. And after dealing with long-term foot, ankle, side and elbow injuries over the past 15 months he knows his body can’t take the strain. Despite his decision to focus on the one-day and Twenty20 formats, Lee does not want younger fast men to give up on Tests.

“Obviously, there’s specialist one-day and Twenty20 bowlers,” he said at the SCG. “But for me, Test cricket is where it’s at. There’s a lot of luck in Twenty 20, a lot of skill and a bit of luck in one-dayers. But Test cricket is a test for the bowlers and a test for the batsmen.”

There were reports earlier that Lee was contemplating retirement and that he had finally decided to quit after talking to England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who retired from the five-day format last year. New Zealand’s Jacob Oram has also walked away from Tests to focus on one-dayers and Twenty20s.

“This hasn’t happened overnight. This has been a long process,” Lee said. “I’ve had the time to step away from cricket and what I want to achieve. It’s been about a three- to four-month decision that I’ve made and finally I went with it.”

Standing at well over six feet, Lee’s intimidating physique and pace made him a threat for any batsmen as he formed one of the best bowling attacks ever alongside Warne and McGrath in Australia’s all-conquering side of the 2000s, when they dominated Test cricket.

Wisden magazine’s 2006 Cricketer of the Year lays claim to cricket’s second quickest recorded delivery when he bowled at 99.9 miles (160.8 kilometres) per hour in 2003, a speed bettered only by Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.

Lee, who is scheduled to play for the Kings XI Punjab in next month’s Indian Premier League, said that like other Australian players, he was awaiting security clearance to play in this year’s IPL after a reported threat from an al-Qaeda-linked militant. “As far as going to India, it’s just waiting and seeing,” he said. “We’re not in a rushed situation to make a call. We (players) are not experts in that field.”

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland congratulated Lee on a “fantastic” career and said he hoped to see him return for Australia’s one-day and Twenty20 teams.

“I remember seeing him debut at the MCG against India in the Boxing Day Test back in 1999,” Sutherland said. “He bowled a very quick spell that had the Indian batsmen ducking for cover and straight away I think we all knew then that we were watching the birth of a great fast bowler.”

Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting, said that Lee should be remembered as one of the game’s greats.

“If we all just take a minute and think about what he’s put himself through in that 10 or 12 years,” he said. “Running 35 metres to bowl every ball, bowling every ball at close to 150kph, and putting his heart on the line every ball he bowls, this bloke deserves a massive pat on the back.”

Lee, who averaged 30.82 runs per wicket and has 10 five-wicket hauls, is currently 22nd on the all-time international Test bowlers’ list.

But his fans would most remember him in his batting helmet and pads, when he was consoled by Flintoff after Australia fell agonisingly short of a win in the 2005 Ashes series, which England went on to win.

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