Brett Lee: Game Over

horace wrote:pcs calls it right...Brett lee and his test career is the classical NSW story...aside from McGrath they have not produced decent test players since slats and tubby - gilly does not count as he had to leave the place to get recognition

When was the last time the Vixen produced a test cricketer as decent and Clarke, Clark, Macgill or Haddin?

Every Aussie on FB will probably say that the difference between winning and losing the Ashes last year was not picking Hauritz. In all probability, Lee would have been just as effective because the Oval is condusive to reverse swing.

JGK wrote:

horace wrote:pcs calls it right...Brett lee and his test career is the classical NSW story...aside from McGrath they have not produced decent test players since slats and tubby - gilly does not count as he had to leave the place to get recognition

When was the last time the Vixen produced a test cricketer as decent and Clarke, Clark, Macgill or Haddin?

surprised you would claim macdill

forgot clark and the kid...haddit bats worse than healy and his keeping is not up to gilly

hodge should have had a decent test career and has a half decent record...fleming and reiffel and TGM had pretty reasonable careers...none of them cost us the ashes.

And Steve Waugh.

Waugh and TGM were pre McGrath. Flem and Pistol (both fine cricketers) started around the same time and all well before the other Dubbers that I mentioned.

Macgill took over 200 wickets at less than 30 - that's "decent" by any measure (notwithstanding his numerous flaws) - and certainly compared to the two most recent leggies to come from Victoria.

horace wrote:

JGK wrote:

horace wrote:pcs calls it right...Brett lee and his test career is the classical NSW story...aside from McGrath they have not produced decent test players since slats and tubby - gilly does not count as he had to leave the place to get recognition

When was the last time the Vixen produced a test cricketer as decent and Clarke, Clark, Macgill or Haddin?

surprised you would claim macdill

forgot clark and the kid...haddit bats worse than healy and his keeping is not up to gilly

hodge should have had a decent test career and has a half decent record...fleming and reiffel and TGM had pretty reasonable careers...none of them cost us the ashes.

We lost two Ashes series in Lee's career

He bowled well at times in '05 ...and his batting almost won it for us ...there were far bigger culprits to blame for the 05 loss than Brett Lee

He didnt play a Test in the 09 series

If you are going to sink the boots into Lee's career at least kick where he deserves to be kicked

phurt ...dubbers always have the inside running on test spots...victoria would not have lost us the ashes - as the spivs have twice

embee wrote:

horace wrote:

JGK wrote:

horace wrote:pcs calls it right...Brett lee and his test career is the classical NSW story...aside from McGrath they have not produced decent test players since slats and tubby - gilly does not count as he had to leave the place to get recognition

When was the last time the Vixen produced a test cricketer as decent and Clarke, Clark, Macgill or Haddin?

surprised you would claim macdill

forgot clark and the kid...haddit bats worse than healy and his keeping is not up to gilly

hodge should have had a decent test career and has a half decent record...fleming and reiffel and TGM had pretty reasonable careers...none of them cost us the ashes.

We lost two Ashes series in Lee's career

He bowled well at times in '05 ...and his batting almost won it for us ...there were far bigger culprits to blame for the 05 loss than Brett Lee

He didnt play a Test in the 09 series

If you are going to sink the boots into Lee's career at least kick where he deserves to be kicked

lee was a destablising element in the last series - barking from the sidelines for his inclusion...

in 05 he was selected as a bowler not a batsman....need I remind you of culpabaility of the kid and fleas in that series

Ponting lost us the last two away Ashes series. Nothing more to be said.

where does he live?

mind you I do not subscribe to the blame punter theory...eg had fleas not crabbed his ton we would have oodles of time at Cardiff

horace wrote:where does he live?

Sometimes in Spivland ...sometimes in Twozzie ....if you average the two locations it's somewhere in Vomitland

at least he has the sense not to lurk in Worst Australia

JGK wrote:Ponting lost us the last two away Ashes series. Nothing more to be said.

Certainly. It wasn't the ineptitude of your batsmen at crucial times. Just Ponting.

Welcome to the Diss an Aussie Hero thread ...

.... hang on, I've just burnt me toast!

In defence of Brett Lee:

He brought huge exceitement to the game and crowds through the gate to watch cricket.
A great fast bowler, a more than handy bat and an excellent fielder.

He has slaved away for Aus, broken his body and been an asset to the team for many years.

Hope he enjoys whatever cricket he plays in future.

We live in a blame culture but the blame can never be laid on ourselves. How very sad are we as human beings :-(

geez ange ...we are simply talking about Bung Lee - a guy who would publicly campaign through the media for his place in the Oz team - hopig to displace another player..

when it comes to the sound maoist practice of 'self criticism' most of us who have some insight into the flaws, foibles and strengths of our own character...bung lee has never indicated such insight

Rather a profound observation coming from an old Roman slave, innit horrie?

Merlin wrote:.... hang on, I've just burnt me toast!

Merlo proves he a felcher

Merlin wrote:Rather a profound observation coming from an old Roman slave, innit horrie?

..

teehee...friday is the day of accidents ...

The first thing that needs to be said... Brett Lee was a Great one-day bowler. I know one-dayers aren't Tests but they are still an important part of the cricketing landscape and he excelled there.

Watching his Test career was frustrating. That's because he had the potential to be great but didn't follow through. He was incredible in those first seven tests but things went downhill when he returned from injury. I also think his figures suffered under Waugh's captaincy because Waugh didn't care how many runs Lee conceded. He was happy to use him as a shock bowler. It suited Waugh's aggressive strategy, but didn't exactly help Lee's bowling.

After Waugh retired Lee had periods where he was very good. The most notable of these was from 2006 to 2008 when he appeared to grow a brain. It's a shame he's been crippled by injury over the last two years - it would have been nice to see another two years of Lee bowling intelligently.

Lee was great in one-day cricket, better than average in Tests and a thrill to watch. He also had a lot of heart. His efforts at Edgbaston and Old Trafford with the bat in 2005 will stick in the memory longer than any of his bowling spells.

Better than average?

Only because Australia were so dominant Lee's career went on for so long. They could afford to carry him. He should have been dropped long before he was.

Lee 76 tests. 310@30.81
Flintoff 79. 226@32.78

And one of these players was better than Jesus