MELBOURNE: He sat there on his haunches, in the middle of the pitch at Edgbaston, desperately trying to switch off the world around him. Kasprowicz had just been ensnared and England had clawed out a sensational two-run victory in the second Ashes Test.
It ought to have gone down in his memory book as one of his proudest moments that had suddenly turned into his worst nightmare.
After all, despite his and Shane Warne's heroics, Australia had been left stranded on the doormat of yet another Ashes victory. Maybe, just maybe, it gave England the courage and the opening to pull off their sweetest turnaround.
But Brett Lee, who sat there forlorn for a few seconds, looks back at that moment with immense pride and undisguised happiness. "Even as I was recovering from the shock, I felt an arm around my shoulder," he told TOI and a few other journalists on Sunday in the run-up to the Super Series here this week.
It was the arm that had broken Australia's fighting spirit in that Test; it was the arm that eventually pulled the Ashes back to England.
It belonged to Andrew Flintoff.
"It will probably be remembered as the greatest acts of sportsmanship in the history of the game. Freddie could have done anything at that moment.
"He could have gone and hugged his mates; he could have joined in the celebrations at the ground. He could have done anything. "Instead, he chose to come to me. To console me. It was a very special moment. It shall always remain special for me and Australia," Lee added. "It also shows what kind of a person he is."
The next day that photograph hit newspapers all over the cricket-playing world. "It (the moment, the photo) got a lot of press and was talked about for a long time. I know first-hand. My mum, my friends, people, so many of them, came to me on the street to say a thing or two."
Now, he is doing something about it. "At the end of the match, Freddie came to me with a photo which had both of us on the haunches, and with his arm around me and asked me to sign it. I told him I want a copy of it too. So we got three copies blown up and we personally signed on it. I have brought it back and it shall get the pride of place in my house," he said.
"Freddie is awesome. In fact, awesome is too soft a word for him. He is better than awesome. He is a quality, quality player. It just goes to show what one player can do to a team. He gets along with the rest of the guys. He is definitely a leader."
Lee couldn't stop going back to that moment again. "We were both trying so hard to win the game for our countries. It just happened to go his way on that occasion. But he wrote a nice, pleasant message for me. If he had to bowl at me again, though, nine out of 10 would be aimed at my head.
- BOBBILI VIJAY KUMAR