Full Name: Brett Lee
Nickname: Bing, Binga
Date of Birth: 8th November 1976
Place of Birth: Wollongong, Sydney, New South Wales
Profession: Australian Cricketer
Marital Status: Single
Children: Preston Charles, born November 16, 2006.
Height: 186.5cm ("that half centimeter is important")
Eye Colour: Brown
Star Sign: Scorpio
Siblings: Shane (older), Grant (younger)
Interests: Playing the acoustic or bass guitar, freshwater fishing and surfing.
Greatest influences: My family. They have stuck by me and been honest at all times.
Favourite Meal: Mum's lasagne.
Favourite Drink: Soda water or a Corona with lemon.
Favourite ground: The SCG – batsmen do not like batting there and I am inspired by the history and tradition.
Where He'll Be In 5 Years: Working hard and looking after my family.
What He Worries About: Making sure my son Preston grows up with the same opportunities I was given as a kid.
Most Important Thing To Him: "My family, we're a very tightly knit unit. If someone told me I had to give up fashion, cricket and my music to guarantee my family's health and happiness, I'd do it."
Worst Habit: "Doing a million things at once."
What He Finds Attractive: "A great smile, a good personality and humour.I'm also a sucker for dimples."
On Fashion: "Fashion can be misleading. It can give out wrong messages to young girls who think that they have to be skinny to be beautiful. Men can suffer from this as well, thinking that they need to train too hard or neglect their body for bigger muscles. I believe that the fashion industry needs to cater for every demographic, not just one particular section of the population."
Favourite Music: "My CD colection ranges from Mozart to AC/DC - there's always a Mozart Cd in my touring bag. When I need to, I close the blinds of my motel room and relax by listening to Mozart for 20 or 30 minutes."
Person He most Admires: "My brother Shane, because he's always set the benchmark in my family. He was my mentor growing up, and I followed in his footsteps. Dennis Lillee has also been one of my heroes - he went through a lot of injuries but came through it all a class act bowler."
What do you think you would be doing now if you weren't playing cricket?: "Playing music and selling suits! I work for Barclay’s Menswear in Sydney and go there on any day off I can, as I quite enjoy the interaction with customers and the ability to make sales. My profile seems to have assisted Barclay’s in attracting customers and it makes me feel as if I am giving something back to the people who supported me before I made good, so to speak."
Best Advice Ever Received: "Never assume."
Favourite Place In The World: "Cape Town's a great spot, but it's always hard to go past the South Coast of New South Wales, especially the Shellharbour where I grew up."
Favourite ground: The SCG – batsmen do not like batting there and I am inspired by the history and tradition.
Least favourite ground: Dunedin, New Zealand for the unpleasant crowd behaviour.
Most memorable match: My Test debut, in the Boxing Day Test against India at Melbourne in 1999. I took 5 for 47 and the whole five days were a complete dream for me.
Worst match: A first-grade match, at Pratten Park, in 1998. I 'broke' my back diving for a ball at fine leg and the resultant stress-fractures kept me out for several months.
Motto in life: Be happy and enjoy yourself.
I think it's important to: Be the best you can.
I'm good at: Cricket and being a good family man.
I can get through a bad day if: I believe in myself, put in the best effort I can and make sure I still enjoy the experience.
The best advice I've received is: Trust your instincts.
My childhood ambition was: To play Test Cricket for Australia.
My first job was: A carpenter
I'm inspired by: My family.
I'm most proud of: My son Preston.
I'd like to change that: More Australian children are healthier and more active.
My next goal is: To score a Test century.
Who is the most influential person in your sporting career and why: Alan Jones, he's a great mentor and understands the role of elite athletes.
Favourite sports star and why: Tim Cahill - he is a good friend and a great athlete with a natural ability but a drive to succeed.
Biography
Brett Lee was born 8 November 1976 in Wollongong, New South Wales and is an Australian cricketer. He is an express bowler, one of the fastest the game has known, and is capable of bowling at 160 km/h (100 mph). Lee's fastest recorded delivery to date is 160.8 km/h (99.9 mph) which he bowled in his first over on March 5, 2005 at Napier, New Zealand against Craig Cumming.
He is also an athletic fielder and aggressive lower-order batsman; his batting ability and statistics (1,000 test runs at an average generally in excess of 20) lead many observers to regard him as a potential all-rounder. A natural and spirited athlete, Lee ranks as the fastest bowler in contemporary cricket.
Lee's speed allows opposition batsmen less time to react, increasing their chances of a making a mistake. Like Shoaib, his galloping run, from a long approach, and explosive delivery are among the most exciting sights in international sport.
Brett Lee is the second of three children born to Bob Lee, a Metallurgist and Helen Lee, a Piano Teacher. He has two brothers, the elder being former Australian all rounder and New South Wales Blues captain Shane Lee and the younger being Grant, now an accountant and concert pianist, who played cricket for New South Wales at the under-19 level.
Lee attended Balarang Public School and Oak Flats High School, which later named its cricket ground in his honour. His nickname 'Bing' came about when friends started referring to him as 'Bing Lee', after a chain of electronics stores in New South Wales. During the school holidays, the young Lee brothers enjoyed soccer, basketball and skiing and were encouraged to play the piano by their mother.
Brett Lee was introduced to the game of cricket at the tender age of eight by his brother Shane and showed an instant talent for it. He played his first 'actual' game of cricket for the Oak Flats Rats where he took 6/0 from one over or 6 wickets for 0 runs, all of his wickets being bowled. At sixteen years of age, Lee began playing first grade cricket for Campbelltown, where he managed to claim the wickets of a few New South Wales cricketers. He later joined Mosman, where at one point, he shared the new ball with pace rival Shoaib Akhtar. Lee also played for the Australian Under 17 & 19 teams along the likes of future Test team-mates Jason Gillespie and Mike Hussey. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the Australian Cricket Academy with Simon Katich and Brad Haddin.
In March 1994, Lee was selected in the Australian under-19 team to tour India but soon after he was forced out of the cricket scene due to stress fractures in his lower back. However, this did not deter him from achieving his cricket aspirations. He made his first-class debut for New South Wales against Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match as a 20-year old in the 1997–98 season and quickly made an impression with his speed and hostility as a bowler. One month later, Lee was chosen to represent the Australian A team on a tour to South Africa. He claimed two wickets but in that very match, stress fractures in his back from the previous injury had re-opened and Lee was in a back brace for over three months. He then returned to work at Barclay's menswear as a suit salesman where he had gained employment six months earlier.
When he turned twenty-one, Lee moved to Sydney to be closer to work and he shared a flat with former New South Wales cricketer, Rod Davison. In 1999, during a Sheffield Shield match at Perth, Lee had launched an astonishing onslaught on the Western Australian batsmen, the fastest bowling seen in Australia since the days of Jeff Thomson back in the 1970s. He broke Jo Angel's arm. From that point, Australian captain Steve Waugh and then vice-captain Shane Warne began pushing for Lee's inclusion in the Test team.
During the 1999 cricket season, Lee was named in the 12-man squad against Pakistan but was not chosen in the final eleven. It was not until the Boxing Day test against India of that season did Lee finally debut, exploding on to the scene with a five wicket haul, indicating his intention to become a main-stay in the Austalian test side and leader of the bowling attack.
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