92 Facts About Brett Lee

Brett Lee was born on 8 November 1976 and is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game.

Brett Lee was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the T20 format of the game which he did in 2007 ICC World Twenty20 in the inaugural tournament against Bangladesh, subsequently being the first bowler to do so at an ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Brett Lee was the first Australian bowler to take a hat-trick at a Cricket World Cup which he did in the 2003 Cricket World Cup Super Match game against Kenya.

In each of his first two years, Brett Lee conceded fewer than 20 runs for every wicket taken, but later recorded figures in the low 30s.

Brett Lee was an athletic fielder and useful lower-order batter, with a batting average exceeding 20 in Test cricket.

Brett Lee finished his Test career with 310 wickets, and his One Day International career with 380 wickets.

Brett Lee played his first Test in 1999 and retired from international cricket on 12 July 2012.

Brett Lee subsequently declined to renew his contract with his home state side New South Wales, but continued to play Twenty20 matches for several seasons after, notably in the Indian Premier League and Big Bash League.

Brett Lee has since found work as a film actor and a Fox Sports commentator.

Brett Lee started playing in the junior teams of his local side, Oak Flats Rats, and gradually worked his way up the ranks.

Brett Lee played for Middleton cricket before he played first class career.

Brett Lee's contemporaries included fellow internationals Jason Gillespie and Mike Hussey.

Brett Lee took 14 wickets, including a 5-wicket haul against Tasmania in the second innings.

Brett Lee finished the season as the Blues' second-highest wicket taker in the Pura Cup with 24 wickets in 5 matches.

Brett Lee hit his career best batting score, 97 against Victoria in the Blues' second innings and scored a record 176-run partnership with Beau Casson.

Brett Lee retired from Big Bash League after playing in the final for the Sydney Sixers on 28 January 2015.

One month after making his first class debut, Brett Lee was chosen to represent the Australian A team on a tour of South Africa.

Brett Lee claimed two wickets but in that match stress fractures in his back from the previous injury re-opened and Lee was in a back brace for over three months.

Brett Lee was eventually chosen in the final 14 for the Test series against Pakistan in 1999 but failed to make the starting 11.

Bowling first change, Brett Lee took a wicket in his first over in Test cricket when he bowled Sadagoppan Ramesh with his fourth delivery.

Brett Lee took 13 wickets in his opening two Tests at the low average of 14.15.

Brett Lee won the inaugural Donald Bradman Young Player of the Year Award at the Allan Border Medal award ceremony in 2000 soon after his debut.

Brett Lee took 42 wickets in his opening three series, the most by any Australian bowler in the seven matches he played.

Brett Lee was selected for the Test series against the West Indies in late 2000.

Brett Lee returned against Zimbabwe but soon suffered another setback a month later when he injured his right elbow and was sidelined until May 2001.

Brett Lee returned to the international team for the 2001 Ashes series after recovering from an elbow injury.

Brett Lee's comeback saw less success than his debut, managing only nine wickets in five Tests at 55.11.

However, Brett Lee was back as Australia's leading wicket-taker in the first and third Test against New Zealand later that year, in a series which he captured 5 wickets in the second innings and made a contribution of 61 with the bat in the first Test match.

Brett Lee finished the series with 14 wickets at 25.14.

Brett Lee only took five wickets in a match on three occasions between the New Zealand series and the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Brett Lee came under pressure for his position after taking only five wickets at 46.50 in the three-Test series against Pakistan in 2002.

Brett Lee returned for the Perth Test, after claiming a five wicket haul in a Pura Cup match against Queensland for New South Wales.

Brett Lee took thirteen wickets at 41.23 in three matches, compared to Bichel's ten at 35.1.

Brett Lee took six wickets at 31.66, and was Australia's most expensive bowler, with the other specialist bowlers averaging 15.55 against the lowest ranked team in Test cricket.

Brett Lee took eight wickets in 100 overs in the final two Tests against India, at an average of 59.50.

Brett Lee ended the series with the worst average and economy rate of Australia's front line bowlers.

Brett Lee was replaced by fellow fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz in 2004 during the tour of Sri Lanka when Lee's ankle injury worsened, forcing him to return home to have surgery.

Brett Lee was unable to reclaim his position for eighteen months, when Kasprowicz took 47 wickets at 23.74 in thirteen Tests, taking his wickets at a much lower cost than Brett Lee had done in the previous three years.

Brett Lee averaged 40 with the ball for the series, which some commentators have put down to having to bowl longer spells than he was accustomed to at the time, but was retained, in part because of his defiant batting which yielded runs at an average of 26.33.

Brett Lee finished the three Test series with 13 wickets and of the Australian bowlers, was second only to Shane Warne's 14 wickets in the series.

Three Australian players including Brett Lee, who was reprimanded in the Third Test in Sydney for showing dissent towards umpire Aleem Dar.

Brett Lee was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.

Brett Lee was unable to maintain his performance when Australia visited Bangladesh for a two Test series, taking two wickets at 93, coming bottom of Australia's bowling averages.

Brett Lee finished the series 20 wickets, with his best bowling figures being 4 for 47 at an average of 33.20, including 6 in the final test.

Brett Lee's tally was only bettered by his teammates Stuart Clark, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the quartet claimed more wickets than the entire England bowling attack combined.

Brett Lee capped off the season by winning the Allan Border Medal, the award given to the player adjudged Australia's best international cricketer of the past year.

Brett Lee seemed underdone in the 2008 Australian tour of the West Indies, taking only 5 wickets in the first Test match, during which he seemed exhausted.

Brett Lee returned to productivity, taking eight wickets in the Second test, including a 5 wicket haul, and 6 in the Third Test.

Brett Lee showed glimpses of his best form when the team returned to Australia for a two test series with New Zealand, but generally seemed down on pace.

Additionally, the arrival of bowlers like Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger ensured that Brett Lee had to fight for a position in the team.

Brett Lee was the only bowler to get reverse swing in this match and appeared to be in line for selection for the First Test at Cardiff.

Brett Lee was then overlooked for a recall and never played test cricket again, announcing his retirement from test cricket at the beginning of 2010.

Brett Lee had been considering retiring from Test cricket for some time since 2008 due to the physical strain.

Brett Lee had been out with a string of injuries and had not played a Test since December 2008.

Brett Lee ended his Test career with 310 wickets in 76 tests, at the time the fourth highest Australian total behind Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee.

Brett Lee made his One Day International debut for Australia against Pakistan on 9 January 2000 during the Carlton and United Breweries Series at the Gabba, Brisbane.

Brett Lee became the 140th ODI cricketer to represent Australia.

Brett Lee has a One-day International hat-trick to his name, achieved in the 2003 World Cup against Kenya.

Brett Lee was the first Australian and fourth bowler to ever achieve this feat in World Cup history.

Brett Lee finished the series with 15 wickets, the third highest tally behind Nathan Bracken and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Brett Lee concluded the tournament with 22 wickets off 83.1 overs at an average of 17.90, a wicket behind Sri Lankan left-arm fastbowler Chaminda Vaas.

Brett Lee had a third leading strike-rate of 22.68 behind West Indian fast bowler Vasbert Drakes and Australian counterpart Andrew Bichel who topped the strike-rates with 19.43 and 21.37 respectively.

Brett Lee earned six of his 22 wickets during the group stage, 11 wickets during the Super-six stage, 3 from the semi-final and 2 wickets from the final which Australia won.

Brett Lee took one five-wicket haul, 5 for 42, against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand during their super-six encounter at Port Elizabeth to put Australia ahead after a dismal innings.

Brett Lee earned his first international hat-trick with figures of 3 for 14 against Kenya during the last match of the super-six stage.

Brett Lee was the highest wicket-taker for Australia with 12 and took his ninth five-wicket haul in ODIs as Australia made a clean sweep winning all except one match in the series.

Brett Lee finished the tournament with 13 wickets, the highest of all the bowlers in the team.

Brett Lee made his Twenty20 and T20 International debut on 15 February 2005 against New Zealand in the first ever T20 international match.

Brett Lee was called up to the squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.

Early in his career, Brett Lee was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action, but was cleared, and was heavily criticised after bowling a series of beamers at batsmen during a number of ODIs in 2005.

Captain Ricky Ponting defended Brett Lee saying that it was not intentional.

Brett Lee is known to celebrate many bowled wickets with a chainsaw celebration.

The image of Flintoff consoling Brett Lee was a moment which came to symbolise a hotly contested series.

On 2 April 2006, Brett Lee hit his highest Test score of 64 in 68 balls against South Africa at Johannesburg.

Brett Lee nearly surpassed this score on 3 January 2008 against India when he made 59 off 121 balls.

Brett Lee had nearly surpassed his highest test score when he had made 63 not out, but unfortunately Ricky Ponting had declared the innings in the 2nd test against the West Indies.

Brett Lee has worked as a bowling coach for Ireland and Sri Lanka.

Brett Lee assisted author Michael Panckridge in the cricket-related Toby Jones novel series.

Brett Lee was cast in the Indo-Australian film UnIndian opposite Tannishtha Chatterjee.

Brett Lee is the second of three sons born to Bob, a metallurgist, and Helen, a piano teacher, and grew up in the Shellharbour suburbs of Oak Flats and Mount Warrigal.

Brett Lee's older brother Shane is a retired all rounder and former international and younger brother Grant previously played cricket for New South Wales U-19, and is an accountant.

Brett Lee attended Balarang Public School and Oak Flats High School, which later named its cricket ground in his honour.

Brett Lee was once briefly nicknamed "Oswald" by former Australian captain and New South Wales teammate Steve Waugh during his early international career.

Brett Lee married Lana Anderson in 2014 after one year of dating; they have two children.

Brett Lee plays the bass guitar or acoustic guitar for the band.

In November 2011, Brett Lee launched his autobiography, which he wrote with the help of author James Knight.

Brett Lee was approached by the Liberal Party to run as a candidate in the 2019 election.

Brett Lee again endorsed Abbott in the Division of Warringah in the election.

In 2014, Brett Lee was criticised after he signed bats for Indian politicians Rajnath Singh, and Sushma Swaraj.

Brett Lee however stated that he was a strong supporter of human rights, and that signing these bats did not mean he was not a supporter of them.

Brett Lee began supporting ADRA along with his brother Shane when a close friend committed suicide.

In 2007, Brett Lee initiated Mewsic, a charitable foundation in India which has established six music centres across the country.