Australian fast bowler Brett Lee has rediscovered the unbridled joy of terrorising his opponents after a blunt warning from his captain Ricky Ponting during the team's opening Test victory over West Indies on the weekend.
- Schedule: West Indies in Australia
Lee has made a career out of frightening the life out of the world's best batsmen with his blistering pace, but decided to reinvent himself after Australia's Ashes loss to England.
Concerned that he was giving away too many runs and taking too few wickets, Lee decided he would slow down and concentrate on line and length.
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"He had a few different ideas about how he was going to make himself a better bowler, but after the first innings of this game I totally disagreed with what he was thinking," Ponting said.
"I just reinforced with him what I think his strengths are and what value he is to the team.
"Brett is the bowler that he is because of his pace. If he drops back his pace he actually becomes a lot easier to face and a lot easier to hit."
Lee did make one concession though, agreeing to cut down on his bouncers and pitch the ball up to make it swing more and it was an instant success as he snared career-best figures of five for 30 in the second innings of the 379-run victory.
"Over the past two or three months, I felt I bowled well but needed to be more consistent," Lee said.
"I worked on different line and lengths because over the past five Tests in England the body felt good, the rhythm felt great, but the results weren't coming.
"But I spoke to Ricky and he just said my job is to bowl fast... and that's why I'm in the Australian cricket team."
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