BRETT LEE will line up for just his third Test in Brisbane, starting on Thursday, desperately hoping history will repeat itself.
When he last played a Test at the Gabba four years ago he was a young man in a hurry, claiming 5-67 against New Zealand to relaunch his career after a serious elbow operation and difficult 2001 tour of England.
It is the last time he claimed five wickets in an innings, reinforcing the conundrum that is Australia's fastest bowler.
To that point Lee had taken five wickets in an innings four times in his first 13 Tests, boasting 56 wickets at an average of 22.
Now, just eight days shy of his 29th birthday and half a decade past the exciting rookie stage, Lee's next 30 Tests have reaped 104 wickets at an average of 39.
These are numbers which have Australia's cricket hierarchy quietly concerned.It is a world away from the excitement Steve Waugh felt when he saw Lee in full stride for the first time playing for NSW.
In his book, Out of My Comfort Zone, Waugh writes of being "mesmerised by the pure artistry of a young quick named Brett Lee", comparing the experience to watching Shane Warne bowl for the first time on an Australian under-25 tour of Zimbabwe.
In a match against Western Australia in Perth, just before his Test debut against India, Waugh talks about Lee breaking Jo Angel's forearm.
"(He) terrorised Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist and bowled the quickest spell I'd ever seen," he wrote.
Waugh lobbied then selector Geoff Marsh to pick Lee for the 1999 Boxing Day Test against India and the selectors concurred.
"Seeing terror in a batsman's eyes is bliss for a quick, and for a captain there's no better feeling than to know you have a weapon who can intimidate top-order batsmen and finish off the tail purely by the length of his run-up," Waugh wrote.
Frustratingly for everyone, and most of all Lee, that has not been the case for some time.
Indeed, his debut figures, 5-47, remain his best.
More questions were raised than answered about Lee during this year's Ashes tour following his return to the Test side after an absence of more than a year.
Lee was never anything less than whole-hearted through a difficult campaign and the courage he showed with the bat put some of his team-mates to shame. But given the opportunity to play a full Test series for the first time in almost two years, the bottom line of 20 wickets at a cost of 41 apiece was barely considered a pass mark.
Compare Lee's recent numbers against those of Michael Kasprowicz, the man who took Lee's place following ankle surgery early last year and kept him out of the side.
While Kasprowicz faded from view during the Ashes tour, his 18 Tests since replacing Lee netted 59 wickets at a cost of little more than 28 apiece.
Lee has not been able to muster a return better than that in any series since the one he started so well against the Kiwis at the Gabba four years ago.
With the pace bowling cupboard increasingly bare following the rapid demise of Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie and a shoulder injury to Shaun Tait, Lee is a walk-up start to share the new ball with Glenn McGrath into the foreseeable future.
This extended run in the side will give one of the most exciting and likeable cricketers of any generation the opportunity to turn around his figures and secure his place in the team.
Ultimately the selectors are looking for a fast-bowling package which can apply pressure as a group, a commodity which too often went missing in England.
It is unfathomable that a fast bowler who has been so loose at times at Test level has made such an impact in the one-day game.
Lee stands second behind McGrath on the world rankings as the best limited-overs bowler in the world. He has the pace and ability to do the same at Test level, if he can put enough thunderbolts in the right place.
- MALCOLM CONN