There is something about Brett Lee that people like.
It can’t be just that he is a nice guy, it was happening well before Freddie gave him a cuddle and even just being able to bowl really fast is not enough.
The man is simply loved by a huge number of cricket fans, and hated by surprisingly few.
Lee first arrived in cricket and almost immediately started in a space race with Shoaib Ahktar. Who will break 100 miles and become the fastest bowler ever.
Lee was the American entry. He had the team behind, was well prepared, looked like he was picked out of a catalogue and was earnest to the point of self-exhaustion. Shoaib was definitely the Russian entry. Madly disorganized, slightly insane, drenched in self-belief and despite all his problems he had the talent to get there.
No matter what madness either of these players has been through, public break ups, underwear label and Hindi song for Lee, and practically every other kind of public madness for Shoaib, people still stayed with them because they could bowl really bloody fast.
In 2003 in South Africa they went head to head on the speed guns. Which is two places both men like to be.
Now it appears that both of their careers might just be fading away at the same time.
Lee pulling out before another series is surely the end of his international career. Cricket Australia loves him, Ricky Ponting loves him and the Australian selectors love him, but there are now fit bowlers in form in Australian cricket. Leaving Harris and Bollinger out of the World T20 for Lee was always going to be a risk, but his form in the IPL, especially compared to Bollinger’s form, should have made the selectors worried that they made a mistake.
Now his body has failed him, again. I can’t see how he can ever come back. Australia’s fast bowling stocks are probably the envy of International cricket; Victoria’s line up alone could represent a few International teams.
So perhaps once and for all the Buzz Aldrin of modern cricket will have to be let go. The man loves representing his country, so he may never retire. I think the selectors just need to say that the future is here and that they have no more time or money to spend on the space race.
Lee is well loved, has an IPL contract and will be fine. He just won’t be an international player again. Most of us live fine knowing we won’t play international cricket again (or for the first time).
In my vision of the future I see some clever devious TV executive would see Lee’s injury as a good thing and offer him and Shoaib a TV show. They could travel the world training kids on fast bowling while digging at each other about speed gun read outs, which had the more potent Yorker, who hit more batsmen. It would be a reality TV odd couple type show, but with cricket, travel, girls and guitars. It practically writes itself.
They’d then make films, live performances and podcasts too. Oh, and t-shirts.
The show would be called Beamers, Bouncers & Bollocks.
