Brett Lee Says he will bowl line and length from now on.

[honestbharani]

Go Bingah! (That is his nickname, right? )

 

[Blaze]

I REALLY hope the success doesn't go to his head and he goes back to his old ways and crashes and burns..

 

[chaminda_00]

Or maybe its more down to the fact that the Windies batting line up is more inconsisent then him.

 

[Eclipse]

well he never even looked like taking 5 wickets against bangladesh... having said that against a better batting line up his figures would not be so good.. but still apart from his first spell of the match he has been true to what he said and bowled line and length.

 

[Blaze]

well he never even looked like taking 5 wickets against bangladesh... having said that against a better batting line up his figures would not be so good.. but still apart from his first spell of the match he has been true to what he said and bowled line and length.

I loathe the Australian cricket team but even I will admit that he was very impressive. He would have destroyed NZ but that isn't much of an achievement these days.

 

[Slats4ever]

I'm not sure as to why Lee even bothers to bowl at test level, in test matches he's mediocre at best and on most occasion he's simply a crap bowler.

why do you keep on saying silly things?

 

[Smudge]

I REALLY hope the success doesn't go to his head and he goes back to his old ways and crashes and burns..

He did go back to his old ways though - at Ponting's request, no less.:

Sydney, Nov 7 Reuters - Australian fast bowler Brett Lee has rediscovered the unbridled joy of terrorising his opponents after a blunt warning from his captain Ricky Ponting during the team's opening test victory over West Indies on the weekend.
Lee has made a career out of frightening the life out of the world's best batsmen with his blistering pace, but decided to reinvent himself after Australia's Ashes loss to England.
Concerned that he was giving away too many runs and taking too few wickets, Lee decided he would slow down and concentrate on line and length.
He unveiled his new strategy in the opening test, but Ponting immediately ordered him to go back to bowling as fast as he could when he managed only one wicket in the first innings.
"He had a few different ideas about how he was going to make himself a better bowler, but after the first innings of this game I totally disagreed with what he was thinking," Ponting said.
"I just reinforced with him what I think his strengths are and what value he is to the team.
"Brett is the bowler that he is because of his pace. If he drops back his pace he actually becomes a lot easier to face and a lot easier to hit."
Lee did make one concession though, agreeing to cut down on his bouncers and pitch the ball up to make it swing more and it was an instant success as he snared career-best figures of five for 30 in the second innings of the 379-run victory.
"Over the past two or three months, I felt I bowled well but needed to be more consistent," Lee said.
"I worked on different line and lengths because over the past five tests in England the body felt good, the rhythm felt great, but the results weren't coming.
"But I spoke to Ricky and he just said my job is to bowl fast... and that's why I'm in the Australian cricket team."
Reuters

 

[Slow Love™]

^ Yeah, I read that article in The Age sometime this morning.

I don't totally understand what Ponting is saying though. Because obviously, one would have to ask, what's the main difference then between how Lee was bowling yesterday, and how Lee has been bowling in tests over the last few years? I don't think that just cutting down on the bouncers explains things. You're basically left with the fact that it's inferior opposition, which is not really what I think Ponting wants to imply.

IMO, Lee DID bowl a far better line and length yesterday, and that was the key to his success. He put the ball in the right places, in addition to the usual aggression. If he can do this while maintaining his pace, I'm fine with that. I got the impression from Lee's comments that he felt he had to drop his pace in order to bowl a more consistent line and length.

Anyhow, I'm interested in how much Lee dropped his pace by in the first innings. Anybody have any idea?

 

[King_Ponting]

Go Bingah! (That is his nickname, right? )

yes, yes it is

 

[parttimer]

I do think Lee suffers a loss of control with greater pace. The Lee maxim of too short or too full holds true whenever he strives for it. He will bowl the odd great delivery, the one that comes off the seam to knock over the stumps (read Flintoff at TB) or nip the edge, like the one that got Ramdin but by and large he will be unthreatening - you can't pressure a batsman bowling at him on a foot outside off stump, and then with one on middle and off, when you are just using pace, you have to DO something with the ball. Pieterson at the Oval ate him for Brekky, as did India as well last time they toured.. 1/200 or whatever it was . We KNOW a pure pace battery from Lee won't regularly trouble good batsman really.

I think Brett needs to adjust his bowling to the conditions and the opposition, rather than pidgeon-holing himself as either pure pace or line and length. I am not sure Ponting was right when he said he's easier to hit at slower speeds. IMO, he was at his most effective in his first spell of the 2nd innings (where he bowled mid to high 130's) - with accuracy and swing.