Lee named Australia's Test Player of the Year

[Feed]

Brett Lee said he wants to test himself in Sunday's ODI against India, the team he considers one of toughest sides to beat. More... Ready to return to action after a brief break, Australian speedster Brett Lee said he wants to test himself in Sunday's tri-series one-dayer against India whom he considers one of the toughest sides to beat. Lee gave enough indication that Australia would face a tough fight if India made it to the best-of-three finals. "Sri Lanka and India are very hard teams to play against but for the moment, it looks India is the toughest side to beat. "If India gets a great start, they are very hard to pull back... a few guys in Sri Lanka can also fire. It's a tough question but I've always enjoyed playing against India, testing yourself against Sachin Tendulkar. If you can prove yourself against the best, you know you are going alright," the fast bowler said. Lee has taken a lot of workload during the current season but feels refreshed after resting for Australia's previous two tri-series games. "I will play tomorrow. We have had this thing through our sports scientists which showed I have bowled well above the limit I should have bowled this summer. But I have been allowed (a rest) to freshen up and would be ready to steam in again tomorrow," claimed Lee.

[King]

At this point in time Sri Lanaka batsmen look no match for the Aussie bowlers. Sri Lanka is struggling to even post a score of 150. India hasn't done any great either but I feel India having played this summer in Australia and won few know how to beat the Aussies. SL has lost every single game against the Aussies this season.

[guju24]

AUSIES got lucky in third one day otherwise if indian batsman had played some good cricket then we could have beat them easily...let see how indians do today...

[veer]

khali shendi laga raha he...

[Dravid]

haha suck up saala... he is right though

[Feed]

Lee named Australia's Test Player of the Year As widely expected, Brett Lee was named Australia's Test Cricketer of the Year award at the Allan Border Medal evening in Melbourne. More... Hayden earns one-day title Lee wins Allan Border Medal Brydon Coverdale February 26, 2008 Brett Lee with his Test Player of the Year trophy: 'It's been a great summer" © Getty Images Brett Lee has completed an outstanding year by winning his first Allan Border Medal despite missing the entire World Cup with an ankle injury. Fittingly, in a season when he took over from Glenn McGrath as the spearhead of Australia's attack, Lee became the first bowler since McGrath in 2000 to claim the major award. He also took home the Test Player of the Year title, while Matthew Hayden was named the One-Day International Player of the Year. Lee finished with 125 votes in the Allan Border Medal count, ahead of Hayden on 107 and last year's champion Ricky Ponting on 64. It was Lee's first time on the stage at the medal ceremony since 2000, when he was named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. Lee said it was a thrill to be leading the attack and playing injury-free after the disappointment of missing the World Cup triumph. "It's been a great summer, I've really, really enjoyed it," Lee said. "Obviously with Glenn not being there, someone had to stand up. I had a great pre-season after I had my ankle injury, so I had a chance to come back, do some weights, get really fit. I'm just really enjoying my cricket." In a year that was dominated by coloured clothing - Australia only played six Tests during the voting period - Lee polled in all but one Test. His 12 votes in the Test count put him five ahead of Hayden (7), while there was a traffic jam for third, with five players grabbing three votes. There was no question that Lee was the star in the longer form of the game during a summer when Australia equalled their own world record of 16 consecutive Test victories. He was named Man of the Series in both the Sri Lanka and India contests and finished with 40 wickets during the voting period, at the average of 20.58. Against Sri Lanka he collected 16 wickets at 17.56 in two Tests, while in the four India games he grabbed 24 victims at 22.58. Lee's success was not limited to Tests and he picked up 30 ODI wickets at 21.70, however his injury meant it was not surprising that he finished 11th in the one-day count. Hayden ended up with 24 votes, ahead of Ricky Ponting on 19 and there was a three-way tie for third, with Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist and McGrath all on 14. Hayden's award capped off a terrific return to the one-day arena after he lost his spot following the 2005 tour of England. In his first series during the voting period, Hayden belted an Australian record unbeaten 181 in the Chappell-Hadlee Series in New Zealand, and things improved from there. He was the leading scorer at the World Cup in the Caribbean, making 659 runs at 73.22, and a blistering 66-ball century against South Africa was a highlight. A productive ODI tour of India followed and Hayden finished the 12-month period with 1462 runs at 56.23. He made four centuries and six fifties, and not surprisingly his contribution to the World Cup win ranked as the highlight of his year. The CB Series will spell the end of his long-term partnership with Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order and Hayden said he had drawn much of his limited-overs strength from Gilchrist. "It's been a pretty amazing partnership with Adam, he's been inspirational," Hayden said. "It's a hard game to play when you know there's an element of risk." Hayden said he was "fully stoked" to win the award after he was not part of the one-day team in mid-2006. His World Cup began with serious injuries to both feet but he said that was never going to stop him help Australia defend their title. "Fifteen months out from the tournament I looked to be in deep trouble, not looking to play one-day cricket again," he said. "I had a deep fire in my belly. A couple of broken feet at the start of a tournament is perhaps not the way you want to start. It was just a lot of work getting back into that side, and from that moment on I don't think broken feet were going to stop me."

[The Outsider]

Deserves it thoroughly. What an Aussie summer he has had, hopefully we can dampen a bit in the Finals of the CB series.