Abu Dhabi: Former Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee will be steaming in hard to get as close to what he would do in his heydays — when he would touch the 160km/h mark — when he braces up against the likes of Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag in the Masters Champion League.
However, Lee, who will turn out for Virgo Super Kings, felt that it was heartbreaking to see the art of bowling at full throttle fast fading.
“Bowling out-and-out pace is no longer the in-thing. I find it hard to watch because you want people bowling at 150km definitely,” said Lee, who said that throughout his career, his focus was only on bowling as fast as he could.
“I never tried to cut down on my pace and always tried to bowl 160km/h for 20 years,” said Lee, who ended his career with 310 wickets in 76 Tests and 380 scalps in 221 ODIs.
Lee, however, chooses not to blame modern bowlers for the slump. but cricket administrators. “It is important to prepare juicy wickets that are conducive to fast bowling. Playing on slow, low wickets doesn’t give an incentive to run in and bowl fast,” asserted the 39-year-old, who is of the view that the governing body and the respective federations have to give it a serious thought and ensure there is something in it for the quickies.
“They need to get better wickets for fast bowlers. Then only they will be inclined to bowl at full pace,” added Lee, who was very critical about the wickets prepared in his home country during the recently concluded ODI series which Australia won 4-1 against India. The five-match ODI series was an absolute belter for the batsmen and the series’ record tally was 3,159 runs.
“The wickets were pretty ordinary during this series. The one at Sydney was probably the best as it had a bit for both bat and ball. But I’m very very disappointed that at other venues the wicket has been low, slow and flat,” said Lee, who felt India lost the series so miserably because they lacked bowling firepower.
“I think India’s batting was really strong, but they are clearly lacking in bowling, especially their fast bowling. They have got very good young bowlers coming through, but they haven’t fired at this particular time. I have been impressed by (Barinder) Sran though, he bowled really well. He
is left-arm and swings the ball really well,” noticed Lee.
Backing Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to get over the testing times, Lee said: “I think if he (Dhoni) feels he is doing a good job and likes leading the group and the players like having him as a leader, then he should keep going. For me I think he has done a good job and he is a wonderful player. With Virat [Kohli] in the ranks, yes, he is potentially the next captain that India will be looking to,” Lee added.
Turning out for Virgo Super Kings under Graeme Smith, Lee said he is keen to get the prized wickets of West Indian great Lara and India’s hard hitting Sehwag. “I’m looking forward to the challenge against Lara and Viru. I met Viru in the elevator the other night and he was smiling at me and I expect him to hit all round the park again. Dismissing Lara and Sehwag would be great.”
