Brett Lee

Here's hoping for a Test spot

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:27:45 -0800

I can only ever really focus on the cricket that's in front of me and for now that's just Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

I'm happy with the way I've been playing. The ball's been coming out very well in England, at the Champions Trophy in South Africa and now the Champion's League here in India.

Fingers crossed I've done enough to sneak back in to the Test team for the West Indies series.

The Twenty20 Champions League has been a very good experience for me. ...

Ricky returns and retires

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:17:20 -0800

The whole squad has been really enjoying their cricket and that's probably partially a reason for our early success.

Everyone was up for the match at Lord's – it's such a special place to play cricket – and I think it showed in how we played in the field after a good showing with the bat.

We slipped behind a lot of times in the game and in the end it was Mitchell Johnson’s last burst of runs that won us the match. ...

Daunting series means alot

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:16:22 -0800

It was disappointing to have the two Twenty20 internationals washed out.

Our start with the ball in the first match, however, was very encouraging. Our brief outing at Old Trafford was the first step in moving on from the Ashes.

With seven one-dayers now in front of us, we, as a team need to keep moving forward and get a good start under our belts at the Oval. ...

Ponting unfairly taking criticism

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:30:21 -0800

The whole team was shocked and disappointed - to say the least - with the way things panned out in the fifth Test at The Oval.

These hard to take defeats do come sometimes in sport, and we have to accept our defeat graciously and get on with it.

Ricky Ponting has unfortunately been taking the brunt of the criticism for what is our defeat. ...

One sleepless night to go

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:45:35 -0800

My best chance to play the fifth Test was to make sure the selectors knew I was bowling fast and that I had recovered from my injury against the England Lions.

I thought I put my best foot forward and managed to do that, now it's just a case of wait and see what happens.

The most critical thing to look at after a long (16 over) spell like the one I got through at the weekend is how stiff the body feels afterwards. ...

England to throw the kitchen sink

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:20:19 -0800

What will happen, will happen, so all I'm focussing on right now is to give myself the best opportunity to play by performing well in the practice match against the English Lions on Saturday and Sunday.

I'm looking forward to finally getting out and playing a game of cricket again.

The way we played at Headingley was in an absolutely clinical fashion. Down the track we could be looking at the first morning at Leeds as the point at when the Ashes turned. ...

Copping it from the crowds

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:00:15 -0800

The tight series so far seems to have gripped the English public as much as it did in 2005.

As the series progresses we’ve copped a bit of flak over here from the crowds but it's all been quite tongue-in-cheek. The Barmy Army has even been quite funny at times and I think they’ve added some real atmosphere.

They've been ripping off a few football chants and we were treated to a dose of, "stand up if you're one-nil up" at Edgbaston. ...

Australia responds to pressure

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:45:43 -0800

Edgbaston is looming as a massive test. We could either level the series or if we don’t play as well as we are used to we could find ourselves two-nil down.

The good thing is, when the Australian team has a challenge like this put in front of them it is generally the time when we play our best.

It's rained 12 days out of 14 in Birmingham so the wicket will not be as 'prepared' as it normally would be. I think it's going to be a low, slow wicket. ...

What a difference a week makes

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:27:09 -0800

Last week in Cardiff, we were one wicket away from being one-nil up in an Ashes series. Now we are one-nil down.

Our focus now is switching to levelling the contest at Edgbaston.

For us, Michael Clarke's second innings century was a really top class performance to come out of the second Test.

He played what I think was the best innings of his career so far. He had a lot of pressure on him and he used that to his advantage and batted beautifully. ...

Series momentum with us

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:52:00 -0800

As a team there was some disappointment we couldn't quite get over the line in the first Test in Cardiff. The guys had worked very hard for the whole match but couldn't grab that 20th wicket.

The last hour-and-half was a real highlight of the test and despite us not coming out of five days of cricket with a result we are still going to take away a lot of positives.

England took only six of our wickets while we took 19 of their's. The momentum is definitely with us. ...