Shane Lee, brother of former Australian cricketer Brett Lee, recounts a humorous anecdote from Brett's remarkable Test debut against India 25 years ago. Brett, eager to impress, jokingly threatened a teammate during a Shield match, leading to humorous consequences.
Brett Lee 's brilliant Boxing Day heroics | 05:12Former Australian all-rounder Shane Lee still chuckles at a mistake his champion brother Brett Lee made prior to a remarkable Test debut against India in Melbourne 25 years ago.Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offerHaving decimated a Western Australian team featuring Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn and Mike Hussey days earlier, the younger Lee was added to the Australian squad for the Boxing Day Test.
Before touching on the pride he has for a younger brother whose “pies” he once belted around the backyard as boys back in Wollongong, the older Lee sibling still laughs about a mishap that Brett experienced ahead of his Boxing Day debut. That is understandable, for the friendly ghost “Kasper” had snared seven wickets against Pakistan in Perth during late November when preferred to the newcomer from New South Wales.
But those who had watched Lee in the Sheffield Shield match a week earlier were far from surprised, with Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist saying his quality demanded a debut. Angel, who played the last of his four Tests for Australia against England in 1995, could testify to that. While none of Australia’s star-studded top order made centuries, several scored heavily as the hosts batted through to the third day on the way to a first innings total of 405.But in a sign that Lee, who batted at No.10, had an appetite for the occasion, he shared a 59-run partnership with Damien Fleming before falling caught and bowled to Javagal Srinath for 27.
“It is weird, because being an Australian and having 100,000 people there — 90-odd thousand were barracking for Australia — and being the new kid on the block, I think a lot of people want to see that young kid do well,” Lee said. In an interview not long after his debut, Lee conceded he was “anxious” and that he was “happy to hit the pitch first-up”. But it sparked his appetite further.
That ability to swing the ball? Early lessons controlling a taped tennis ball helped. His defiance with the bat? As a little boy pitted against Shane, he wore some blows. It was not the only lesson Lee learned when pitted against Shane and their younger brother Grant, who the Australian star once said could well have been the best of them all.“My highest score in the backyard was 434 and then I bowled Brett out about second ball and I went inside and Brett was crying and mum gave me a smack and said, ‘Go out and bowl to your brother. He has just bowled at you for four hours’,” Shane Lee said.
That eluded him but at the end of the over he claimed his fifth wicket for the innings when Srinath fended a short-pitched delivery to Mark Waugh at second slip.“What a day. Five wickets on debut. Brett Lee has brought the MCG alive,” Greig said. The Aussies steamrolled India for 195, with Lee snaring the wickets of Dravid and Srinath for the second time in the match to finish with figures of 2-31 from 19 overs.
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