By IANS
Perth : Australian fast bowling spearhead Brett Lee said perseverance helped him to pick up the two crucial Indian wickets of Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman at the fag end of the opening day in the third Test at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) Ground here Wednesday.
“If we had them four-down for 300 it might have been a different story, but with those two late wickets, making it six-down, Australia are in a pretty good position,” Lee told reporters here at the end of the day’s play. Lee picked up three wickets while Mitchell Johnson claimed two.
Both Dravid (93) and Laxman (27) departed in quick succession and that left India reeling at 297 for six at the close of play.
Dravid thought that Lee was at his best and said: “Over the last year and a half he has had pace, but he has also bowled in the right areas and been thinking about his dismissals. He has been improving all the time since I first came here in 1999.”
Lee chose the wrong end in the morning in his effort to run with the breeze, but then he switched after four overs and quickly dismissed Wasim Jaffer. Later in the day he also got the crucial wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Laxman.
“I now know when to go up and down a gear. There are times when you’re bowling at 95 percent and trying to get the right line and length, but there are times when you have to go full tilt, like when you need a wicket. You’ve just got to work out when to do it and when to pull back,” he said.
“I wanted to take the wind first up, but the ball didn’t swing for the first couple of overs because it was coming over my left shoulder instead of my right. I was asked to go to the other end after four overs and it started swinging. Immediately I took the wicket of Jaffer. If the wind is coming over your right shoulder it’s always happy days,” he added.