Brett Lee Retires from Test Cricket
In a press conference at The Sydney Cricket Ground, Brett Lee, Australia’s premier fast bowler of the past decade announced his retirement from Test Cricket. His last match was the Boxing Day Test v South Africa in 2008 and he bows out of the Tests arena with 310 Test wickets. Described by legendary former Australian Captain, Steve Waugh, as a ‘once in a generation’ cricketer, Lee bowled fast, and often very full and straight, to capture many top batsmen LBW and Bowled. As a fast bowler, he was fortunate to be able to bowl in short spells with high intensity because the champion team he was part of, had other bowling options to perform other roles during an innings. He was also a useful lower order batsman and an excellent ambassador for cricket.
Lee bowled his heart out every ball he bowled. To bowl at consistent speeds around 150kph requires skill, stamina and desire. It also is a sure-fire way to bring one’s career to a premature end. Two previous Australian fast-bowling greats, Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath, cut down their pace in their latter years and became highly skilled bowlers who delivered the occasional reminder of their peak pace. However, Lee has never been as good a technician as Lillee and McGrath, despite being a good exponent of the art of reverse swing.
Australia will miss him and world cricket will mourn his retirement because a) he was a quality individual who produced top quality performances and b) there a fewer and fewer pace bowlers adorning the game.
Maybe the modern schedules will preclude us from seeing the likes of Brett Lee again? With more and more back-to-back Tests and a plethora of ODI’s, plus the advent of Twenty20 Cricket and the IPL, means that genuine fast bowlers may suffer from burn-out. In the case of the business-minded and economically smart ones, they will learn to operate at less than optimum pace to avoid strains on the body and increase the number of years in which the cash register can deposit high returns for sub-maximum output.
Lee will continue to be available for other forms of Cricket other than Tests and will have more time to commit to family and hobbies such as his love of music. He is a modern man with a taste for life which can be more fully indulged now that he is able to own his time more than any other period in his professional career. In following Andrew Flintoff’s and Shane Bond’s example, could Lee be setting a dangerous trend for Cricket, where the most hostile and threatening bowlers opt out of the primary format of the game?
