Why we are dross - Bung=DKL or tgm - Spiv Gilbert

BRETT Lee has been ranked alongside Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath as Australia's greatest one-day pace bowlers as the World Cup spearhead closes on another milestone.

Lee, 34, will become the seventh-most prolific bowler in one-day internationals, on 338 wickets, if he can strike for Australia against Sri Lanka on Saturday night.

At the moment he is level with Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble on 337.

"He's got to be considered in our top three one-day quicks. He's now up there with Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath," NSW Cricket boss Dave Gilbert said.

"He's left nothing to chance. He has trained incredibly hard in the recent months. Most bowlers at his age are putting their feet up, so it's a great testament to Brett that he still has that desire to play for Australia.

"Towards the end of his career, Lillee went from bowling fast to more guile because of his back injuries, but Brett has only ever known one way.
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"What he has done since he has come back (to Australia's one-day side) has been outstanding. We were struggling to get blokes out during the Ashes and he's helped us thrash England in the one-day series 6-1.

"When Brett bowls, it's full throttle. He never bowls to hold up an end. To take 600-plus international wickets speaks volumes for Brett's longevity."

Since his return against England on January 16, Lee has 13 wickets from six one-dayers at 25.15, prompting Sri Lanka's Australian coach Trevor Bayliss to declare the 76-Test veteran at the peak of his powers.

"I think Brett would say, since McGrath retired, he's taken over that leadership role and I think he's still got that good pace," Bayliss said.

Lee will play a crucial role on Saturday. He is the only member of Australia's squad to have bowled at the venue, Colombo's R.Premadasa International Stadium.

Former Test bowler Gilbert, who has seen Lee come through the New South Wales system since his teens, said quitting Test cricket had been the best thing for the quick's career.

"He's worked so hard on his fitness and if you talk to Brett, he's stronger than at any time of his career," Gilbert said.

"He's had so many setbacks thrown at him. Making the decision to retire from Test cricket would have been difficult, but it's really given him a new lease of life.

"To see his speed still up around 150km/h, I can't say enough about Brett's determination to get back into the Australian team and be the leader of the pack."

Gilbert the arch Spiv Spruiker along with Hilditch and Simmo (and ljh) symbolise all that is wrong with Australian cricket

To be fair, Bung's JAMODI ability has never been doubted by this forum and he would realistically be in an Aust AT JAMODI XI.

JGK wrote:To be fair, Bung's JAMODI ability has never been doubted by this forum and he would realistically be in an Aust AT JAMODI XI.

that would be out of character for me of course!!

Agree with JGK. No matter what we think of Bung at Test level (and it's generally universally unfriendly, me included), he has rarely let us down in JAMODIs, and the World Cup in particular.

skully wrote:Agree with JGK. No matter what we think of Bung at Test level (and it's generally universally unfriendly, me included), he has rarely let us down in JAMODIs, and the World Cup in particular.

except the last one

Yeah, pretty hard to perform when you aren't playing, I guess.

Brett Lee is a great one-day cricketer. He would be the first fast bowler picked after Lillee and McGrath in a composite Aussie XI.

Obviously we'd have preferred it if he was a great Test cricketer as well, but you take what you can get.

Hass wrote:Brett Lee is a great one-day cricketer. He would be the first fast bowler picked after Lillee and McGrath in a composite Aussie XI.

Obviously we'd have preferred it if he was a great useful Test cricketer as well, but you take what you can get.

fixed

He was obviously gonna excel in a game where the soft qunt only has to bowl a couple of five over spells. That said he used to produce with the bat more often than not, especially when we needed it.