Brett Lee is Rubish!

[Tom Halsey]

Lee is a lot of hype and little substance -- he did a lot of talking before the game about how he was going to scare the hell out of the Indian batsmen with his short pitched bowling. For most of the test, he looked largely unimpressive.
I don't think the specialist Indian batsmen were overly fazed by him.

Lee's got 2 tours to the subcontinents next year -- I feel he will be absolutely smashed particularly on the crunch tour to India.

Very true. Exactly right. :P

 

[mavric41]

Lee is a lot of hype and little substance -- he did a lot of talking before the game about how he was going to scare the hell out of the Indian batsmen with his short pitched bowling. For most of the test, he looked largely unimpressive.
I don't think the specialist Indian batsmen were overly fazed by him.

Lee's got 2 tours to the subcontinents next year -- I feel he will be absolutely smashed particularly on the crunch tour to India.

I don't think they will play him. The bowlers will be McGrath and Gillespie with Warne and MacGill playing in tandem. Katich and Lehmann will be the backups.

I just wonder if Bevan has brought his spinners out of retirement?

 

[Tom Halsey]

I just wonder if Bevan has brought his spinners out of retirement?

Hopefully. I used to enjoy watching him bowl, but it seems unlikely. I think he has a problem withhis shoulder, that's why he stopped bowling.

 

[Craig]

I'd second that.
Lehmann is a brilliant, brilliant player and it's a real shame he's in all likelihood going to have such a short Test-career.

I disagree.

He hasnt played enought Tests partly due to some poor form when he got axed in 1999 and had a poor attitiude and there wasnt a spot for him.

Anyway he is yet to score runs against a decent enough Test line-up. He profited on the boast-your-career-averages series against WI & Bangladesh.

 

[Richard]

haha what a load of crap this therad is, Australia draw and lose against india without him, win with him and people are calling for his head - he takes 4 wickets (only macgill took more, williams close but mostly tail enders...) and those 4 wickets are Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Shewag....

and thats his comeback game.... he will get better...

And good batsmen do play poor strokes; all of the above did at The MCG. Just because you've got a good batsman's wicket against your name doesn't mean it's worth any more than a tail-ender's.
Hopefully the ludicrousy of the "they win with him, they don't without him" will be disproved this match.
And he will get better... like he has been since 2001? In that case, I can't wait. His average has been rising by the series. I'm enjoying the prospect of that continuing.

 

[Richard]

I disagree.

He hasnt played enought Tests partly due to some poor form when he got axed in 1999 and had a poor attitiude and there wasnt a spot for him.

Anyway he is yet to score runs against a decent enough Test line-up. He profited on the boast-your-career-averages series against WI & Bangladesh.

Yes, he hasn't scored runs against decent Test attacks but believe me, he's a fantastic player. He's scored bagfuls of runs playing half his games at Headingley. I'm fully confident that if he does play some decent bowling he'll do well.
He is far better than Hayden and Gilchrist, and any other batsman in the Katich, Hussey, Maher, Love, Hodge etc. mould.

 

[marc71178]

Yes, he hasn't scored runs against decent Test attacks but believe me, he's a fantastic player. He's scored bagfuls of runs playing half his games at Headingley. I'm fully confident that if he does play some decent bowling he'll do well.
He is far better than Hayden and Gilchrist, and any other batsman in the Katich, Hussey, Maher, Love, Hodge etc. mould.

All said without a hint of Yorkshire bias...

He's by no means the only Aussie to fill his boots against mediocre county bowling...

 

[Craig]

Michael Bevan and Michael Hussey spring to mind.

 

[Richard]

Hmm, the first to spring to my mind is Law, then I think of Hayden, Katich, Maher, Hussey, Love, Hodge and any others.
I rate Lehmann above them all because they've all had easier typical wickets than Headingley. Headingley can turn even the mediocrest county bowlers into pretty reasonable ones.

 

[marc71178]

I just noticed you claim Lehmann is a better batsman than Hayden and Gilchrist - been sharing a few substances with Liam?

 

[Richard]

Nope, never met Liam in my life. Only been corresponding with him for 3 months.
I do think Lehmann is better than Hayden and Gilchrist, though. I think if you played a 5-Test series in England when catching was up to standard and bowling good, Lehmann would average considerably higher than either. I also think his first-chance average will be higher than Gilchrist in Sri Lanka and India if he plays (clearly with Gilchrist it's always foolish to predict scorebook averages as his luck is unpredictable) because not only is his play against seam and swing better, his play against spin is too.

 

[marc71178]

I think if you played a 5-Test series in England when catching was up to standard and bowling good, Lehmann would average considerably higher than either.

Rubbish!

By the time that happens they'll all be retired anyway, but look at the respective Test records of the 3, and it'll be clear who the better players are.

(You'll have to take your White Rose-tinted glasses off first though)

 

[Rik]

Brett Lee goes for 201 runs! Wow, if that's a record (which I doubt it is) for an Australian bowler, then he holds the record for most runs against an Australian bowler in both Tests and ODIs! (Remember Pakistan taking 80odd runs off his 10 overs at Sophia Gardens a few years ago?)

 

[Neil Pickup]

LO Fleetwood Smith went for 287 in England's 903-7 declared at the Oval in 1936

 

[Eclipse]

not only is his play against seam and swing better, his play against spin is too.

Rubbish Lehmann is a great player of spinners especilay SLA but he does not compair to Gilly as far as facing seam bowling goes.

Gilly hates the ball's that jag into him but does well with the ball leaving him and he is an awsome player of swing bowling unless it's a cracking yorker he struggels with them.

I have seen Gilly take attack's apart when everyone else is falling around him he read's swing really well possibly because he take's the ball early and has the bat speeding through the line very quickly.

Lehmann is a bit of a nicker to good seamer's though.

 

[Tim]

Is Fleetwood Smith the long lost brother of Fleetwood Mac?

 

[Jono]

What's everyone's excuse for Bret Lee in this test match? His run up? :O

Poor Gillespie, a brilliant world class bowler who has to suffer with Lee giving runs away on a plate on the other end.

 

[luckyeddie]

What's everyone's excuse for Bret Lee in this test match? His run up? :O

Poor Gillespie, a brilliant world class bowler who has to suffer with Lee giving runs away on a plate on the other end.

I feel really sorry for Brett Lee, having to, for ever more, put up with the kind of treatment normally reserved for Steve Wayward-Harmison (well, from the duck anyway).

 

[V Reddy]

I can't help but feel sad for Lee and Macgill. They came against a very good batting lineup and all in good form on flat tracks. MacGill didn't get much chance to bowl at the tailenders. I think Warne would have averaged more than 40 too against India. Macgill would have done better if it was any other batting lineup. I hope MacGill gets picked to SL to give him another chance. Lee i think will get picked but not so sure about MacGill.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Remember Pakistan taking 80odd runs off his 10 overs at Sophia Gardens a few years ago?

England took 85 off him in 8 overs in 2001...:P