A timely juxtaposition of stories this morning: -
Amjal Shahzad tells the Grauniad that he asked Allan Donald about how to intimidate batsmen.
Brett Lee announces that his test career is most likely over.
Shazad certainly doesn't lack for self-confidence - 'I am bubbly, aggressive and I'm in your face, and I want to be able to intimidate people. I know it's hard against the world's best but how do I do that?' but you'd like to think that a young, uncapped quick bowler, given some valuable coaching time with one of the best quick bowlers ever to play the game, would have the nous to ask about something slightly more worthwhile than 'intimidation'.
All you need to do, and hopefully all that Donald told him, is bowl fast, straight, move it a bit and drop the odd one in short aimed at the batsman's throat.
That's all Brett Lee did.
Personality wise, and in terms of how he acted on the field, there was nothing particularly intimidating about Brett Lee - he seems to be generally regarded as one of the nicest men ever to play the game. If anything, you could argue that his on-field demeanour wasn't intimidating enough for some Aussie tastes.
Yet in 75 tests, he took 310 wickets. That puts him in the top 30 of all time, fourth in the list of Australian wicket takers, and above all but two Englishmen.
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3 comments:
Been away Mark?
Good piece - Brett Lee always played the game in the right spirit. Have to say I didn't think he'd got 300 test wickets.
Just a touch of writers block Andy!
I remember being surprised when I read that Lee had taken his 300th test wicket.
Well deserved though.
You can imagine a batsman taking Shahzad apart next season, and after every boundary walking down the wicket and saying
"Bubbly!!"
"Aggressive!!"
"In your face!!"
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