Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee says emotion and aggression are part of the game and doesn’t want to see robots on the field, but he warned against behaviour “crossing the line”.
The ongoing Australia tour of South Africa has been marred by on-field altercations with South African speedster Kagiso Rabada appealing against a two-Test ban for a shoulder barge on Steve Smith in the second Test.
The 41-year-old Lee, a fearsome fast bowler during a sparkling career for Australia from 1999 to 2012, said that controlled aggression is good for the sport.
“The thing that I will say about that, in all honesty, is we don’t want robots on the field,” he said on Sunday.
“Of course, there is a line that the players should not cross,” Lee added, without offering any judgement on the incident involving Rabada. “You don’t racially vilify someone. You don’t use excessive swearing or stuff that can upset children who are listening in. Other than that you’ve got to play hard cricket. I am not saying that I don’t agree with what happened, but what I can say is that we don’t want to get into a stage where players can’t even look at a batsman, batsman can’t even look at a bowler without getting into trouble.”
