Pace ace Lee is 50 today… Brett you didn’t know that!

There are cricketers whose sheer charisma and brilliance transcend borders making them just as popular if not more so in a foreign country as they are back home Australiarsquos retired fast bowler Brett Lee fits into this category the foreign country being IndiaEven if itrsquos been more than a quarter of a century since Lee still conjures up images of a young blonde fast bowler who ran in and let it rip in his debut Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in that second Test of the highly forgettable 19992000 series for Sachin Tendulkar amp Co Today that same exciting fast bowler is 50 and writer Tanya Aldredrsquos observation of him at a press conference after Day Three when he claimed five of the nine Indian wickets to fall at the MCG was well summed upldquoHe Lee had a nice guyrsquos haircut a blond floppy mop that he attacked with various amounts of hair gel He had a band Six and Out that released real records though not real enough for people to be jealous of And he worked in a gentlemanrsquos outfitters because he liked clothes and people and making the perfect fitting for a suitrdquo Aldred wrote 10 years later in CricinfoEnjoy these Brett Bits culled out from my conversations with him and his book My Life Brett Lee with James Knight published in 2011 by Ebury PressThose U19 days vs IndiaThe India U19 team faced Brett Lee at home and away across two seasons mdash on Indian soil in 199394 and Down Under the following season Mumbairsquos Kiran Powar faced him in both seasons and admitted earlier this week that he just didnrsquot see the first delivery Lee bowled He was that quick ldquoI coped better the following season after experiencing his pace in India Irsquom sure he was bowling 140kmphplusrdquo recalled Powar who underlined how friendly Lee was off the field Lee mentions in his autobiography that he has experienced exciting rickshaw rides during his India visitlsquoArsquo class in LAA few months before his December 26 1999 Test debut against India at Melbourne Lee was at the throats of the India lsquoArsquo batsmen as part of the Australia lsquoArsquo team in the Moov America Challenge at Los Angeles in 1999 His best was 432 in the fourth game which Australia won by nine wickets after India were bowled out for 128Warney let it outLee came to know of his inclusion in the playing XI of the 1999 Melbourne Test through Shane Warne The master legspinner was privy to the team think tankrsquos plans Warne informed Lee that he was in and asked him to appear surprised when captain Steve Waugh delivered the news to himThere was Grant tooAs well documented Leersquos elder brother Shane played cricket for Australia There was Grant too but he didnrsquot pursue the game While covering Leersquos debut series in ODI in 19992000 I quoted Lee as saying this about Shane mdash ldquoShane has been the perfect older brother a huge influence Therersquos a lot of hype surrounding me but Irsquom just a guy who has played a couple of Testsrdquo Indeed because by then Shane had figured in two ODI World Cups for Australia in 1996 and 1999On the bounceIn the same interaction Lee spoke about how Shane bounced him at backyard cricket in NSW ldquoHe Shane just loved bouncing me Now he wonrsquot bowl to me in the nets because he still seems to find my inside thigh my ribs or something mdash itrsquos too dangerousrdquo So much love so much protectionAsha Bhosle PicRane Ashish right Brett Lee at Jazz By The Bay Churchgate in 2004 Picmidday archivesRocking with Asha BhosleOne has to be passionately in love with music if one plays in a band and an intimate interview in 2003 revealed that Leersquos CD collection ranged from Mozart to ACDC and he always carried a Mozart CD in his touring bag In 2006 during the Champions Trophy whose silverware Australia took home from India he recorded a track and video with the late Asha Bhosle Lee after a meeting with the producer went ahead and wrote a song which he describes in his book as being ldquoabout a guy trying to catch the attention of a pretty girlrdquoOn an earlier tour of India Brett was interviewed by Simi Garewal for Rendezvous and he obliged her by singing Muqabla a hit he heard first in a rickshaw ride on the junior tour to IndiaGreat bowlers aroundPace was always Brett Leersquos forte A day after his 542 helped demolish New Zealand for 112 in Australiarsquos 96run win at Port Elizabeth South Africa I asked him what speed meant to him This is what he told midday ldquoI am in the Australian cricket team to bowl fast and this is my biggest asset So thatrsquos what I am trying to do But pace does not get you wickets always I am lucky to have great bowlers around me As a team we can have some fun and put the ball in the right spotrdquo For the record for that particular game Leersquos bowling colleagues were Glenn McGrath Ian Harvey Andy Bichel and Brad HoggCome home DaddyMost books have something that could be unforgettable to the reader Where Leersquos book is concerned itrsquos about the incident he shared before the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal against India at Ahmedabad The day before the March 24 game Lee was on a Skype call with his fouryearold son Preston in Sydney The kid said ldquoDaddy can you lose tomorrow so you can come home and see merdquo It tells you something of what cricketers and families go through during long tours Australia lost to eventual champions India and they were on an early flight home310No of Test wickets claimed by Brett Lee in 76 Tests 53 vs India in 12 TestsWhen Piers Morgan challenged LeePiers MorganEngland were in the throes of adversity in the Australian summer of 201314 They were 03 down by the time the fourth Melbourne Test came along and Englandrsquos famous television personality Piers Morgan claimed that he was equipped enough to face the might of the Australian pace attack Lee then retired challenged Morgan to face six balls from him Channel Nine made it a lunchtime show and the cameras were rolling So was Lee The first of Leersquos thunderbolts hits Morgan on the body The second ball sees Morgan on the ground with a vicious bouncer flying past A snorter comes up for Morgan next He fails to make contact with the next delivery down the leg side The fifth ball crashes into the stumps while he fails to connect the sixth delivery Lee won the battle but that doesnrsquot stop him from exclaiming ldquohats off materdquo Meanwhile Lee is quoted in the media as saying ldquoConsidering he Morgan hasnrsquot played a top level of cricket he does have a great cricketing brain you have to take your hat off to himhellip I wouldnrsquot have got in there and faced thatrsquorsquo