Cricket: Brett Lee roared into the Australian team after a lighting Sheffield Shield spell and immediately tore through India in the Boxing Day Test of 1999.
It was in the old locker rooms at the WACA ground when the room started to spin for former Australia n fast bowler Jo Angel as he went into shock after being struck by lightning.Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer .
Angel had played four Tests for Australia and standing nearly two metres tall, he was an intimidating bowler in his own right, former New South Wales all-rounder Brad McNamara said. It was only when he was unable to pick up his bat that he truly understood something was amiss, though the club physio noted that even the natural tan from years bowling under the WA sun could not camouflage the look of distress on the then 31-year-old’s face.“I thought initially I was all good, because I thought it had got me on the arm guard. I didn’t realise it had got me flush on the arm.
The Sheffield Shield game between WA and NSW that preceded Lee’s outstanding debut against India in the 1999 Boxing Day Test is part of cricket’s folklore. “That was pretty regular back then. We often seemed to play them when they were at full strength, right from when I first debuted,” Angel said. Steve Waugh had made 150 against India a week earlier but was trapped LBW by Angel for 9, while Mark Waugh edged Nicholson to Adam Gilchrist for one.Haddin can still remember the bemused look he received from Mark Waugh as he prepared to keep to Brett Lee when Western Australia came out to bat late on the opening day.
Mike Hussey, who was yet to play a Test, made 22 opening alongside Ryan Campbell, who hit 66, while Langer batted at No.3 and scored 78. “That game before he got picked for a Test match, I have never seen any fast bowlers with that velocity ever, and still to this day.” The WA quicks were forced to toil for more than a day as the visitors reached 409, with Angel and Cary taking four wickets each, while Brad Williams snared a couple.
Then Lee unleashed with fury. He took a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Gilchrist for 45, and had Julian caught not long after as the prospect of a surprise victory soared. “I think prior to that debut, there was a Shield game just leading up to it and he played for New South Wales against us in Perth he bowled some of the fastest spells of bowling in that game that I have ever witnessed.
“One ball he bowled, he bowled a bouncer that we all just watched that went over my head and half-volleyed into the fence. Still to this day, it was the fastest bowling I had ever seen.”Angel was up for the fight when he came to the crease in the 33rd over with WA at 7-155 on the final day and trying to avoid a loss in a match they dominated for the first two days.After watching Julian fall in the following over, he was joined by Cary.
But it was not the swing that stitched-up Angel on this occasion, rather the level of bounce he was able to conjure. “You have to either stand up and play it or sway out of the way. I was trying to stand up and play it but wore it on the arm, unfortunately.”With Angel receiving treatment in the changerooms, Lee bowled Cary soon after to finish with 4-55 in the second innings.
But what he does remember was how “bloody uncomfortable” the night he spent under medical supervision was. “It is one of those things. Brett came in and saw me at the hospital and there were certainly no hard feelings on my behalf, because that is all part and parcel of the game,” he said. A record-breaker in Western Australia, Jo Angel is still involved in cricket in the state as a bowling coach, who spreads his love of the sport to regional areas as well.Lee, for his part, said he still hates the sight of blood and had no desire to harm anyone he bowled to during his career.“That is the thing. I am not a malicious person. I hated people getting injured. I want to put that on the record. I hated blood.
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