A pumped-up Brett Lee has vowed to release his pace throttle to full tilt as he fulfills his childhood dream of spearheading the Australian attack into battle.
The blond assassin says he will not sacrifice his fearsome 150km/h thunderbolts in a misguided attempt to cover for the absence of economical bowling partner Glenn McGrath in the series against South Africa.
"It's unfortunate circumstances for Glenn but it's definitely been a dream of mine to lead the attack," Lee said.
"Glenn is the type of guy who is Mr Consistent. He has the line and length to make my job easier. But I won't be changing anything and I'll be trying to lead from the front."
South Africa was torpedoed by friendly fire - with former South African skipper Clive Rice launching an extraordinary salvo against his countrymen. Rice, who expects Australia to hand the Proteas "a serious hiding" in the one-day and Test series, accused Graeme Smith's men of hiding behind excuses.
He slammed wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for inciting hostile home crowds to abuse the visitors.
"I don't know why Boucher came out with what he did because what can our crowd say to the Aussies when your team is getting a serious hiding, and that is what they are going to give us," Rice said.
"They are miles better than us. The problem is that there is no competition for places, which is why Graeme Smith is allowed to fail 14 times out of 15 and still keep his place."
Lee's re-emergence as an international strike weapon has amazed even himself after he carried the drinks for 12 consecutive Tests.
Since returning for the Ashes series, he has taken 53 Test wickets at 32 and 40 one-day wickets at 22.2.
His recent returns mirror those of his overall career.
But he said he had hit his best form after a talk late last year with skipper Ricky Ponting, who convinced him to bowl flat out at any cost.
"The ball is coming out great. It's taken a lot of hard work and sacrifices to get where I am," Lee said.
"What I keep telling myself is I look back 12 months ago and I wasn't wanted in the team. I could not get a spot in the top Test team. Now it's a great turnaround to be known as a strike bowler."
Ponting told Lee his job, even in McGrath's absence, was to strike fear into batsmen's hearts.
"In England at different times he enjoyed it when Glenn wasn't playing because he knew he was the guy who was the spearhead of the attack," Ponting said.
"It's important he remains that for us. When he's bowling fast and swinging the ball it's very difficult for any batsman to face.
"We'll have other guys around him who can do the tight job at the other end."
Lee is Australia's third-highest one-day international wicket-taker (226). McGrath holds the record with 330.
Australia plays a Twenty20 match with South Africa early tomorrow morning with the first one-day international on Sunday night.
- BEN DORRIES