I told in the previous article that we will cover 2 of the greats of Australian cricket today and here is the second and he is someone who was my favorite overseas Bowler for such a long period of time and he was one of the fastest of all time and his pace used to get a lot of his wickets but his fitness ensured that he keeps on taking Wickets for a long period of time. He has played international cricket for more than 11-12 years which is so impressive for a fast bowling great. I will love to discuss his Top 5 best ever.
Before we get into that list and have fun let’s talk about his immaculate bowling records. He has played 76 Test Matches and in those Matches he has taken 310 Test wickets at an average of 30.82 and he has 10 Five wicket hauls in test cricket. In ODIs he has played 221 ODIs and he has taken 380 wickets at a very good average of 23.36 with 9 Five wicket hauls in ODI cricket. Let’s look at his Top 5 Best bowling Performances.
5/47 vs India (1999)
This was the first test innings for Brett Lee and he got a 5 wicket haul so this has to be at the top of the list because not many fast bowlers have got a Fiver in the first innings against such a top team. Brett Lee was like a breath of fresh air for Australia but the Indian batters were taken aback by his sheer pace and he got 5 Wickets. He bowled 18 overs in this innings and immediately made a great first impression which would hold in good stead for the rest of his remarkable career.
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5/77 and 3/46 (2000)
Just 1 year into his test career, Brett Lee delivered one of the best overseas fast bowling performances at that time when he went to New Zealand and ripped apart their batting line-up. In the first innings when New Zealand were batting Brett Lee took 5 wickets for 77 runs in 23 overs and the world was now seeing a serious fast bowler who could trouble anyone in the world in any country. In the second innings of New Zealand he again picked up 3 important wickets for 46 runs and ensured that Australia win this match by 5 wickets in the end.
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5/30 vs West Indies (2005)
This was the best bowling performance by Brett Lee in a test innings and it came against West Indies in 2005 and that too in the all important 4th innings of the test match. West Indies needed 509 runs to win this test match and it was out of reach but Brett Lee added to the wounds of the team by bowling 14 amazing overs of fast bowling and after giving away just 30 runs he took 5 wickets in that innings and Australia won this match by 379 runs in one of their biggest wins in test cricket and Brett Lee had become a legend by this point
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5/22 vs South Africa (2006)
This was the best bowling performance of Brett Lee in ODIs and it came in the year 2006 vs a good South Africa team where South Africa were chasing 246 runs to win from 50 overs but Brett Lee had other plans as he destroyed the batting line-up and in 10 overs at an economy rate of 2.20 he gave away 22 runs and took 5 wickets which is like a dream spell for any fast bowler. The opposition teams were not able to figure out the solution to his pace and he was getting a lot of wickets.
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5/49 vs England (2009)
This is the 5th performance in this list and there are a lot of great performances that I have had to leave out because I can fit in only 5 and the last us against England at Lord’s so it had to be featured on this list. England were batting first and Brett Lee as always was the leader of the attack and started picking up Wickets at regular intervals and in 9 overs he gave away 49 runs and took 5 wickets thus restricting England to 220 which was chased down by Australia with 7 wickets to spare. Brett Lee is an all time legend and one of the nicest human beings ever.
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