Both know the importance of pitch and pace. For Brett Lee they are vital on the cricket field, for Asha Bhosle they have made her the golden voice of Bollywood.
There was talk of both as the pair reunited in Sydney for the first time since they recorded their unlikely bestselling duet and video of You're the One for Me. The fast bowler's physical pace may have been temporarily slowed thanks to an ankle injury that has put him out of the World Cup in the West Indies, but his verbal delivery was quick.
"It's still a bit sore," he said. "I snapped through three ligaments to make sure I was here today." Bhosle smiled has he raised his trouser leg to reveal a leg brace.
Yesterday Lee caught up with Bhosle at the Sydney Opera House, where she was rehearsing with Kronos Quartet before her sold-out concerts with the ensemble tonight and tomorrow night.
Lee may be one of the world's best-known cricketers, but to Bhosle he has other talents.
"He is a very good bowler, the fastest bowler in the world, but he is a musician first," she said.
"He knows how to play guitar and he sings very well - in tune. He writes his songs."
And as a songwriter Lee works with characteristic speed. He penned their lighthearted love duet, which has topped the charts in India and South Africa, in just 30 minutes.
He takes his guitar on tour with him and plays it most nights. It was a great outlet from cricket, he said.
"I've only been playing music for eight years. I still can't read music. I only play from what I hear … but music has definitely changed my life. Anyone who plays music, understands music knows that once you do you are hooked."
While he has so far recorded just one song, Bhosle has recorded more than 12,500 since she began singing in the 1940s. She is revered across the sub-continent and is said to be the world's most recorded artist.
In recent years her work has reached Western audiences. The 74-year-old has recorded duets with Michael Stipe and Boy George, and was immortalised by Brimful of Asha, the 1997 song of the British band Cornershop.
Bhosle's and Kronos's Sydney concerts include work by the Indian film composer R.D. Burman - Bhosle's late husband - from their Grammy-nominated album You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood.
- JOYCE MORGAN