During their playing days, former pacers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee were two of the most feared bowlers. In the early 2000s, the pair dominated the Australian bowling lineup. Lee had 310 Test wickets, compared to 563 for McGrath, who had the magical ability to be incredibly consistent with his line and length. McGrath was a laid-back character, according to Lee, who would always be pulling “a practical joke on someone,” and Lee treasured his memories of him.
“The real McGrath is a very laid-back character, a country boy and a class clown unlike his aggressive and competitive attitude on the field. McGrath is the person that would always be playing a practical joke on someone. During the Boxing Day Test in 1999, I was sitting in between McGrath and Gilchrist. Gilly was eyeballing me and telling me to go out there and enjoy and while I was listening as a young kid with my eye line off the ground, McGrath was next to me tying my shoelaces together so when I hopped up, I fell over. My Test career was almost over before it started,” Lee said in his YouTube channel.
“McGrath always had been something very special. Only played a handful of first class matches before he was picked in the Australian cricket team. What a lot of people knew that was going to happen with a tall, skinny frame about six foot six, and he has that X-factor in him. McGrath was known as the human metronome,” he added. Lee continued by referring to McGrath as his guru, who had assisted him in keeping his line and length throughout his bowling periods. “McGrath would always say good bouncer, good yorker, top of off and that’s pretty much what he did his whole career and was so successful,” said Lee.
