Cricket: Lee 'not proud' of that beamer

Brett Lee

PERTH - Brett Lee has spoken for the first time about the beamer he bowled at New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, saying he hoped it would not happen again.

Lee bowled a waist-high full toss to McCullum in last Wednesday night's second day-nighter in Wellington, but immediately apologised to the batsman and blamed the dewy conditions for his loss of control.

Last week's beamer was the third in a year Lee delivered to McCullum, and the fifth in the same period he bowled to a New Zealand batsman.

Lee is now focusing on preparing for tomorrow's first test against South Africa on the bouncy WACA wicket in Perth.

"With that full toss that I bowled to McCullum, it's not something that I'm proud of," Lee said.

"It always seems to happen when we are bowling second with the dewy conditions. The ball was very, very slippery.

"I'm not making any excuses but it's something that is pretty hard to do when you are running in and bowling at 156km/h. If you slightly get it wrong, you slip.

"I was sliding up to 40 centimetres ... It's a bit like a javelin thrower running in with sandshoes on a wet surface, trying to throw a javelin."

Lee, who took three for five in the first one-dayer, missed the third match to return to Sydney to have surgery to clear his blocked nasal passage.

"Yeah it couldn't be better. I had a minor procedure done last weekend so it feels 100 per cent now," he said.

"I'm ready to go."

Lee said of his one for 85 in the second one-dayer: "Going for the runs I did, I'm not proud about it.

"I know that in the next game that I play I can hopefully go out and rectify that.

"But ... with an average of 21 (21.94), I'm really happy with the way the one-dayers have gone.

"So I've put that behind me ... but it's all about test-match cricket now so we have to focus on these three test matches coming up."

Lee said he always enjoyed bowling on the bouncy Perth wicket, although he admitted it was "always tough" to switch quickly from one-dayers to tests. He said pace bowlers needed to be careful not to get too carried away with pitching short at the Waca.

Lee has taken 24 wickets at an average of 24.50 in four tests in Perth, compared with his career tallies of 179 at 31.82 in 46 matches overall.

After taking 18 wickets at 20.94 in the just-completed 3-0 series win over the West Indies, Lee says he is keen to play a major role within the side.

"The experience level now is starting to climb up there and I consider myself a senior player, said the veteran of 46 tests and 117 one-day internationals.

Lee, 29, said he was expecting a hard-fought series against South Africa.

- AAP