Life story of Brett Lee

By Sahibzada Zaheen Iqbal
Correspondent SAM Daily Times

Brett Lee

Brett was born in Wollongong, New South Wales on 8 November 1976. He grew up in his hometown with his family and their shared love of sports.

Brett tried his hand at many sports but cricket proved to be the one that he excelled in. He had his first official game of cricket at the age of nine.

The next few years saw Brett continue his steady rise through the cricketing ranks culminating in his selection in the Australian Under-19 team for a tour of India in March ’94.

A back injury soon after forced Brett to lay low for a while, but with his unwavering determination and hard work, he ensured that the injury wasn’t going to be the be all and end all of his cricketing career.In ’97-98, Brett’s efforts were rewarded when he was selected to make his first-class debut for NSW in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia.

It just took the one match for Brett to make an impact on the state scene, and the bruised and beaten Warriors team returned home to WA saying that the NSW Blues had perhaps discovered the fastest bowler in Australia. Just one month later, Brett received higher honours when he was chosen to play for Australia.

Brett made his debut for Australia in the Boxing Day Test against India 1999. He finished his first match for his country with figures of 5/47.

He picked up 310 wickets from 76 Tests, joining the elite 300 Test wicket club before retiring from Test cricket early in 2010 to concentrate on the shorter forms of the game.

He also has a formidable limited-overs record – with 357 wickets from 205 ODIs, only one Australian, Glenn McGrath, has taken more wickets in ODIs. Brett has one of the best strike-rates in the world for this form of the game.

Lee is known for his pace and regularly clocks 150 km/h and above. He ranks behind only Pakistani bowler Shoaib Akhtar (161.3 km/h, 100.2 mph) as the fastest bowler in contemporary cricket during most of the 2000s.[5] The strain of consistently bowling at 150 km/h caused a string of stress fractures and recurring injuries and forced him to alter his strategy, which he has done effectively.[6] Rather than relying on pace alone, he uses a wide array of deliveries aimed at wearing down the batsman.

Early in his career, Lee was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action, but was cleared,[7] and was also heavily criticised after bowling a series of beamers at batsmen during a number of ODIs in 2005.

He is also an athletic fielder and useful lower-order batsman, with a batting average exceeding 20 in Test cricket. Together with Mike Hussey, he has held the record for highest 7th wicket partnership for Australia in ODIs since 2005–06 with 123.

His talent and handsome personality make him a crowd favourite throughout Australia and the world.

Brett’s career highlights include the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year 2000, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2006, Australian Test Player of the Year 2008 and the prestigious Allan Border Medal 2008 for the Australian Cricketer of the Year.

Brett is an enthusiastic and motivated sportsman who is grateful for all of the opportunities that have come his way.  He remains a grounded person who is generous with his time in and out of cricket.

Brett Lee cranks out a song.

Outside of Cricket Brett has a number of other interests. He has a love of music and has formed the band White Shoe Theory and has written a number of songs with his music partner, Mick Vawdon, for their album with the hope to launch later this year.  Brett also launched in India with Asha Bhosle “You’re the One” single, which he wrote the lyrics, and this went to the top of the Indian music charts.

Brett lives in Sydney and when at home he loves nothing more than spending time with his 5 year old son Preston and family.  Brett often also takes time out in his music studio or occasionally a spot of fishing on Sydney Harbour.

Lee will continue to play in the Indian Premier League and the Big Bash League Twenty20 competitions.