Veteran Australian paceman Brett Lee has announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday (July 13).
The 35-year old fast bowler from Wollongong, New South Wales, had originally planned to retire after the Twenty-20 World Cup in September, but after flying home early from the one-day internationals series in England due to a calf injury, he decided the time was right to make way for Australia’s young fast bowlers.
Lee will depart the game as the equal leading wicket-taker for Australia in one-day internationals, having moved level with Glenn McGrath on 380 victims, although Glenn McGrath also took one wicket for the World XI, taking his career tally to 381.
Lee who last played a Test match against South Africa at Melbourne in December 2008, but continued to play international limited overs matches for Australia and in India’s lucrative Twenty-20 competition. He retired from Tests in Febraury 2010.
Lee made his debut for Australia in the Boxing Day Test against India at Melbourne in December 1999 and he will retire as international cricket’s 10th leading wicket taker of all time, with 718 victims across all three formats. He has been involved in a World Cup triumph in 2003 and three successful Ashes campaigns, and although he will leave on the low of a 4-0 one-day loss to England. He missed the 2007 World Cup due to a serious ankle injury. Lee’s final appearance for Australia came in Durham last week, when he hurt his calf while bowling the third over of his 221st one-day international.
In his prime Lee was one of the fastest and most aggressive bowlers in the world but has suffered from a long list of injuries that blighted his career, including stress fractures, ankle injuries, side strains and more recently a broken foot.
Brett Lee took 310 wickets at 30.81 in 76 Tests, 380 wickets at 23.36 in 221 One-Day Internationals and 28 wickets at 25.50 in 25 Twenty-20 matches.
Brett Lee in international cricket
Batting and Fielding:
Type M I N.O Runs AVG H.S 50 Ct
Tests 76 90 18 1451 20.15 64 5 23
One dayers 221 110 44 1176 17.81 59 3 54
Twenty-20 25 12 6 101 16.83 43* – 6
Total 322 212 68 2728 18.94 61 8 83
Bowling:
Type Overs Runs Wkts AVG 5WI R/0 Best
Tests 2755.1 9554 310 30.81 10 3.46 5-30
One-dayers 1864.1 8877 380 23.36 9 4.76 5-22
Twenty-20 90.5 714 28 25.50 – 7.86 3-23
Total 4710.1 19145 718 26.66 19 4.06 5-22
