Harsha's best thing he has done in his life as a cricket commie is his short stuff. This time it's with Brett Lee.
Harsha Bhogle: This is what I enjoy best: short stuff. I don't think there will be any other situation when I will be doing short stuff to Brett Lee, so let's enjoy this moment.
Brett Lee: (laughs)
HB: Fast bowling is all about… complete that.
BL: Fast bowling is all about having some type of different approach to your game. You've got to be on top of your game. You've got to be somewhat crazy. You've got to be willing to succeed.
HB: Do you like intimidating batsmen, hitting them or picking up wickets?
BL: All three? Can I have all three or not?
HB: No, this is not a buffet … (laughs)
BL: (laughs) It's not a buffet… I like to take wickets, but you intimidate first then you take the wicket hopefully.
HB: The best spell you've ever bowled.
BL: It was probably the spell to Brian Lara [Port-of-Spain Test, 2003], I think. That was up there with my favourites. Even though I did not get him out, I kept him on strike for an hour and half. There is a photo that I have got him to sign - the Kookaburra ball was going past his nose, his feet were completely off the ground, higher than the stumps. And all the crowd were going licks… don't know what they do in the West Indies but it was great, great fun.
HB: They had always done the chin music to their opponents and this was giving it back to them…
BL: They were getting a bit back from the '80s.
HB: The best bouncer you have bowled? That one?
BL: Yes, that one or to get a batsman out playing a pull shot, maybe to get Sachin [Tendulkar] out caught in slips.
HB: The first bouncer?
BL: The first bouncer I bowled was Under-10s. I dragged one down and it went over the batsman's head, so I was like "Wow, this is pretty cool."
HB: The batsman you found toughest to bowl to?
BL: Sachin or Brian Lara - those two.
HB: What would you give up to change the result of Edgbaston 2005?
BL: You know, that is up there with one of the most favourite games I ever played in. People ask me, "How can it be one of the favourite games when you lost?", but in life you don't always have to hold the trophy up. Even though we lost, we lost by two runs. That was one of the best spirit-of-cricket games that I have played in - Andrew Flintoff shaking my hand after the game. The sportsmanship, the way we fought back and fell so close... And the kids that were brought to the game after watching that Ashes series, I think was really good, so that was a great series.
HB: Ashes win or the World Cup - which is more satisfying?
BL: Now you've thrown me. That is a bouncer, that is a good bouncer.
Oh gosh… I want to say World Cup. I can't decide.
HB: That's all right. It's not a crime to not be able to decide.
BL: Ask me next week and I will say the Ashes. Can I?
HB: Okay, it's not a crime to not be able to decide. That's all right. By not being able to decide you have given me an answer anyway.
BL: Okay, there you go.
HB: A fast bowler you would have liked to partner?
BL: I would have loved to bowl in tandem with the great DK Lillee. Dennis Lillee - great action, great aggression, had all the tricks, had the whole lot, had every single ball. And he is a top fella, a top bloke.
HB: A batsman from any era, not just your own, you would have liked to bowl to?
BL: Viv Richards, I think. Just his stride, the way he walked out, no helmet… And he just had that physical presence that... come on, if you bounce me, you are going to fetch it [from] 15 rows back.
HB: The baggy green means.
BL: The baggy green means everything. The baggy green makes you get out of the bed those mornings when you are hurting. It makes you get through that last spell. It makes you bowl that extra ball. It makes you feel ten-foot taller when you are batting. The baggy green means everything.
HB: Your best friend in the Australian cricket team?
BL: At the moment I would probably say Shane Watson, because we both play guitar and sing. (laughs)
It's good away from the ground. Look, he is a great bloke, his career has come along and he is going to be a great leader for Australia at some stage.
HB: Okay, you've got a packed house, you're bowling at 160kph or you're playing in a band, both to a packed house - what excites you more?
BL: I would say bowling 160kph in a packed house, because that won't last forever. You can play music till you are old.
HB: One superstition about you that we don't know about?
BL: Superstitious or routine, I always put my left shoe on first.
HB: But superstition is not a big thing for you?
BL: No, not really. I'm not like, if I have worn a pair of bike shorts or pair of underwear or a pair of coloured socks… I would go on and do that [all the time]. I know there are a few batsmen around the world who have stuck bats to the roof, went and got a hundred and so now have to do it every single time.
HB: Neil McKenzie. (laughs)
BL: (laughs) I know, you know that one.
HB: (laughs) He has stopped doing it, apparently.
BL: But that's… everyone is different. I think the game is hard as it is, you just don't want to complicate things.
HB: Who is the bigger bully - Brett Lee or Shane Lee?
BL: Shane Lee.
HB: Nonsense.
BL: Definitely.
HB: Nonsense.
BL: He has bullied me my whole life. But no… he is good. He has been a great leader for me, a great mentor and a good brother. But he is a bully.
HB: You are now sounding like a Hindi film.
BL: You reckon?
HB: My elder brother, lovely fellow, sweet guy… (laughs)
BL: (laughs) Throw a couple of these (makes song-and-dance gesture) in, and you would be good to go.
HB: An unfulfilled dream - something that you might have loved to achieve but couldn't?
BL: I want to do more with my music. I have got some stuff that I want to do with my charity as well, which I am setting up over here, later on.
HB: But you can still do that. Is there something that will now be unfulfilled?
BL: Well, if it hasn't been achieved, to me it's unfulfilled. It's not like it's an untouchable goal. I look back and I think I would have loved to score a Test hundred, but it didn't happen. I would have loved to take a Test six-for or a Test ten-for, but it didn't happen. They are goals, when you look back now, that can't be achieved, but it would have been great if they had happened.
HB: And your proudest moment as a person and a cricketer?
BL: The proudest moment as a person is easy. It's the birth of my boy, Preston. Best moment ever. And I think my proudest moment as a cricket is getting my baggy green for the first time. Putting it on your head, you just get this feeling. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.
HB: Right, there you are - short stuff to Brett Lee, and my verdict: he took it on the chin, like some of the batsmen who played against him.
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