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Thommo pulls the trigger on the speed gun

A certain amount of amusement is being afforded by the stories centering on Brett Lee -- and the last couple of days have brought a spate of them. Different bylines, but the same quotes -- saying in essence that Lee is ready to pull out all the stops, to let it rip, that he wants to bowl the fastest ball of all time, that Mark Waugh already thinks he is the fastest he's seen, that Steve Waugh backs him to bowl that snorter of a ball, that Dennis Lillee thinks Lee has it in him to be the fastest of all time... all mixed in with repeated iterations of the fact that in the last game he played in, he put Jo Angel out of action with a fractured arm...

You know how it goes.

The amusement -- which, judging by the mails we are getting, is getting to the fans as well -- comes from memories of two months back. When Shoaib Akthar, on landing Down Under, spoke of wanting to bust the land speed record. At the time, Glenn McGrath was quick off the mark, reminding the Rawalpindi tearaway, in avuncular fashion, that there was more to bowling than unrestrained machismo, that it wasn't about sending down the fastest ball of all time... and so on and so forth. Sentiments headlined, and echoed, at the time, by the Australian media.

That bit of native wisdom appears to have been given a quiet burial in Lee's case. Or maybe not quite. For Jeff Thomson, who was officially clocked at 160+ kmph and who holds the record for the fastest measured ball sent down, has warned Lee not to fall victim to the "speed gun syndrome" that seduced Akthar during the recent three-Test series. Akthar did push the pedal to the floor, clocking 153 kmph, but didn't do as well wicket-wise -- a factor, analysts indicate, that was responsible to a large measure in Pakistan's 0-3 showing.

Thomson indicated that Lee would be better advised to focus on his line, pointing out that while in Sydney he was trying to intimidate, he had a lot more success in the Canberra one dayer against the Prime Minister's XI, when he pitched up outside off and broke through early and often.

"If he does that at Melbourne, and occasionally throws in the short one, he'll go well," the legendary fast bowler pointed out.