Moments before Brett Lee closed out the South African innings and sealed his five-wicket haul at the WACA Ground yesterday, his fast-bowling hero Dennis Lillee declared from the Lillee-Marsh Stand that the 29-year-old had deposed Glenn McGrath as leader of the Australian attack.
It was a significant proclamation from the legendary pace bowler, given that only a couple of months ago, Lee faced a career-defining crossroads as a Test bowler, having not snared five wickets in an innings for four seasons and having struggled to mirror his fine limited-overs exploits in the Test arena.
Since then, Lee has had a complete rejuvenation, leading the wicket-takers in the series against the West Indies and adding yesterday's wholehearted 5-93 to his 5-30 at the Gabba last month. Yesterday, he continued his climb by moving past Geoff Lawson's 180 scalps into 13th place on the list of Australia's most successful Test bowlers.
His impact was felt early on the second day of the series, for he struck the entertaining opener A.B. de Villiers on the grill of the helmet, and in the same over tricked Herschelle Gibbs into chopping a ball on to his stumps. By the innings' end, he had added Jacques Rudolph, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini to his tally.
Lillee, who has been a mentor to Lee throughout his career, said he had turned the corner as a Test bowler. "I think Brett has steadily improved over many years. I think he's learnt to bowl now a more consistent line and length and I just think he uses the yorker and bouncer sparingly and it probably has more effect. I just think he is pretty much a complete fast bowler at the moment," he said.
"It doesn't mean McGrath is any less (of) a bowler but certainly Brett seems to be the guy that is sort of now taken the mantle as the leader of the pack."
- CHLOE SALTAU