'He got everything he could out of himself'

Ricky Ponting pays tribute to the recently retired Brett Lee, lauding his professionalism, loyalty and determination. Ponting talks to Chloe Saltau in the Age.

In the change rooms at the Gabba, during a Test against the West Indies in 2005, Lee confronted one such crisis.

''He'd struggled through the first part of the first Test and we sat down in the lunch break and had a good chat … He just sort of said, 'I don't want to bowl any more'. I said to him, 'That's not going to happen, mate, we've got to make sure we're nice and clear about what you want to do, what fields you want','' Ponting recalled.

''We went out after the break, set the exact fields he wanted, and he ended up taking five wickets in the innings. That was a turning point in his career as a Test bowler.