One day, I was walking down the street near my house and a tall, blonde and decent looking guy walked passed me. He was about 2 heads taller than me and had the most beautiful eyes in the world. I was only 7 years old so how was I supposed to figure out who was going to make a Test debut? I didn't take much notice on him as I do these days!
Two months later in December 1999, Kaylee (my sister) and I were watching the Boxing Day Test on TV. I was about to fall asleep until my eyes wandered onto this cricketer with a movie star look, who was going to bowl his first over. At that moment I thought he'd be something special to me. He just looked like the perfect role model for kids. Then I thought, 'Hey wait. I think I saw that guy before. Umm…on Austin St?' That flashback made me jump up and down the couch as my sister laughed at me. I told Kaylee later that I saw Brett Lee once near our street and she replied, 'Stop dreaming Mandy. I find him attractive too so there's no need to make up stories like that.'
To prove Kaylee wrong, I dared her to take me to the One-dayer match in SCG, Aus versus Pakistan, and ask Brett if he lived in Lane Cove. We stayed along after the match had ended. As we saw Brett walking towards us I quickly shouted, 'You're my hero Mr Brett Lee.' Brett turned around and said 'Thanks for your wonderful comment. I don't often see little girls at cricket matches and especially young kids who stays after the game. What's your name by the way?' I had no idea why I started to cry. Tell you the truth, I think I cried because of what Brett said, I thought that he meant I was a bad girl staying up so late. He laughed a little and said, 'Oh sorry baby, I didn't mean anything bad. Here, you can have the rest of my Powerade drink and here are some jelly babies for you to chew on.' After that sentence I was smiling again, and then I asked, 'Is it true that you live in Lane Cove?' He was kind of shy but he said 'yes'. I WON THAT BET! The way Brett tried to comfort me made me realize how caring and sweet a 'man' could be.
Years have gone by and my hero still lives near me. Sometimes I still get to see him in shopping malls, on the streets and at a cricket match. There are so many encounters with Brett but I will tell them later.
Everyone in the community loves him and are so proud to have such a kind-hearted bloke living here. He deserves all that credit because he's just such an amazing guy. The work and projects he does to help young kids and charity is just so incredible. I wasn't surprised at all when I heard that Brett invited a cancer patient, Sarah, to the Allan Borders. That's the kind of gesture is so "Brett Lee!" He would give anybody a fair go and always make people believe that miracles do happen.
If you'd like to read about Amanda's encounter of meeting Brett again, click here.
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