Crik: Lee not told to slow down
By Michael Crutcher
DURBAN, South Africa, April 1 AAP - Brett Lee's bowling is becoming too expensive forthe Australian one-day team but the express quick has been told not to slow down aheadof Wednesday's clash with South Africa here.
Captain Ricky Ponting wants Lee to maintain his pace after claiming eight wickets fromtwo matches in the last week, consistently clocking more than 145kph on the speed gun.
But Ponting also wants Lee to limit the runs which have flowed from his bowling, including63 from 9.1 overs during Australia's comfortable 37-run win in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The 25-year-old coughed up 33 runs from his opening four overs before bowling NeilMcKenzie and Mark Boucher with consecutive deliveries in his second spell to push Australiato an unbeatable lead in the seven-match series.
"His economy rate is fairly high and that's something we spoke about at the start ofthe series," Ponting said.
"I was hoping for him to get his economy rate down to make him a very, very good one-daybowler because you can use him as a strike bowler.
"But I don't think he would bowl as well if he (reduced his pace). He's a tearawayand he's able to get the ball in the right area most of the time.
"I think the reason he probably gets scored off as much is because he is so quick,and you only need to get the bat on it, but he's just got to bring his economy rate down."
Since the 1999 World Cup, Lee has been Australia's most expensive frontline bowler,conceding 4.91 runs per over.
That compares unfavourably to Glenn McGrath (3.82), Jason Gillespie (3.99) and ShaneWarne (4.53).
But Lee is taking almost two wickets per match, level with Gillespie and better thanthe strike rates of McGrath and Warne.
"Ideally it would be lovely to get down to less than 40 (runs) from 10 overs but I'vebeen lucky to pick up four wickets each match here and that's what I'm really worriedabout now," Lee said.
"The economy rate, if I'm bowling well, will hopefully come down.
"In a perfect world it would be nice to pick up 4-40 from 10 but that probably can'thappen each game. It's something that I am working on and I'm aware of."
Lee was left out of the first two matches in South Africa when selectors preferredMcGrath, Gillespie and Andy Bichel as the pace bowlers.
It was a clear sign that Lee needed to tinker with his one-day approach as selectorsbegan looking towards the World Cup defence in 10 months.
The right-armer can afford to focus solely on wickets when forming an attack with McGrathand Gillespie, but not if he concedes more than six runs per over.
Lee is a different bowler to McGrath and Gillespie, who extract more bounce off a goodlength because of their height advantage.
"It would be nice to be six foot six but I'm more of a slider or a skidder and thatcomes with being six foot two," Lee said.
"It's a bit tougher but those two bowlers are world-class bowlers with the pace and the height.
"My biggest asset is my pace and I'm really focused on keeping that but I'm still tryingto hit that right line and length."
AAP mc/jds
KEYWORD: CRICKET AUST NIGHTLEAD
No comments:
Post a Comment