What’s it like facing Brett Lee for the first time?
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
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Victoria will run into Brett Lee in the Pura Cup final on Saturday and Andrew Stevenson, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, says only four of them have played against Australia’s fastest bowler in a first-class match. Matthew Mott, the New South Wales coach, remembers his experience.
"It was when he was young, and speed was everything, and he'd just come in and try and knock blokes' heads off,” Mott said. “It wasn't a hell of a lot of fun to face him. And he's obviously a lot more accomplished bowler now than he was then." The match will be Lee’s first Pura Cup final.
In the Australian Malcolm Conn says Simon Katich and David Hussey have the most to gain during the decider.
The two leading Pura Cup run-scorers this year are not considered among the best 25 players in the country because neither has a Cricket Australia contract. As a result there is likely to be some soul-searching by the four-man selection panel during and after the Pura Cup final given the number of players without contracts named in the Pura Cup and state one-day teams of the year.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo