McCullum accepts Lee beamer apology

It has taken almost a week, but Brendon McCullum has finally cleared the air over the Brett Lee beamer furore and told how he accepted his apology. Lee's waist-high full-toss, which hit McCullum on the hand during the third ODI at Auckland, has dominated discussion among former players and critics, with the columnist Peter Roebuck suggesting he be sent home immediately.

But McCullum yesterday said he had given Lee the benefit of the doubt that the ball, the second similar delivery he has received from him this summer, was accidental. "He was very apologetic and that was received nicely," McCullum told the Sydney Morning Herald. "If he comes up to me and says that, then for me that's good enough."

McCullum said Lee was a harder prospect to face in one-dayers than Tests because batsmen could not afford to wait for his loose deliveries. "I think there is a difference to handling it and getting after it, it's no easy feat," he said. "Facing Gillespie, McGrath and Kasprowicz isn't that easy as well."