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Brett Lee has opened up on what it was like being taken under the wing of cricket icon Shane Warne when he began playing for the Australian Test cricket side back in 1999.
Lee also revealed that there was only one player within that side who could sledge the late Aussie spinning great and how Warne once accidentally sprayed nearly $40,000 worth of notes all over passengers on an aircraft.
The former Aussie fast bowler played alongside Warne between 1999 and 2007 when his team-mate retired.
Walking into the Test side, Lee described Warne as you’d imagine, a ‘rockstar’ who was both a great friend and mentor.
‘Well, he’s got the Nike earring in,’ he told The Grade Cricketer podcast.
‘We’re in Melbourne and first Test and the king invites you out for a beer. He wasn’t a big drinker Warnie - but just different to be around.’
Aussie cricket legend Brett Lee (pictured) has opened up on what it was like being taken under Shane Warne's wing when he began playing for the Australian Test side back in 1999
Lee and Warne would play together in the Test team from 1999 to 2007, with Lee describing the spinner as a 'rockstar'
Pressed on where they would be going if Warne invited him out for a drink, Lee explained: ‘Ah you’d go to the best nightclub possible and he’d always have mates that would sort out the tab.
‘He just walks in like a rockstar. It’s weird, I just can’t explain what it's like when we used to go out with Warnie. He just had this aura; aura on the field, aura off the field.’
Warne tragically passed away in 2022, aged 52, while on holiday in Thailand. The larger-than-life cricket great was an inspiration to many young cricketers, having enjoyed a glittering career taking 708 wickets across 145 Tests for Australia.
While many will remember him for his iconic moments on the cricket field, including the ‘Ball of the Century’ and his boxing day hat-trick against England, many of his former team-mates remember some of his antics away from the pitch.
And Lee recounts one story of how the team ended up in a casino while they were staying in Melbourne.
‘I remember once we went to the casino, and his [Warne’s] mate “Pack”, James Packer, had organised for every member to go and have a play in the Mahogany Room down in Melbourne - private room,’ he said.
‘You’d go in and get $1,000 each, just to have a bit of fun, a dabble.
‘So, someone said: “Can I put $500 on red and $500 on black?” That’s not fair, not what you’re meant to do. We had a bit of fun.
Lee (left) explained: 'He just had this aura; aura on the field, aura off the field' opening up on how whenever Warne invited the team out for a drink they'd go to the best nightclub possible
Warne tragically passed away in 2022, aged 52, while on holiday in Thailand
‘Next day we’re flying,’ Lee said, noting they were travelling with now-defunct airline Ansett Australia.
‘Warnie had this little bum bag around his tummy. He hops on and you hear this gasp from the back of the plane in economy. They’re all looking at Shane Warne walking on in business class.
‘He opens up his bumbag and all these hundreds fly out,’ Lee said, mimicking the noise of paper notes springing out from Warne’s bag.
‘He had like $40,000 in his bumbag and I reckon he unzipped it himself.’
Lee went on to replicate Warne, ducking around passengers on the plane trying to collect the notes.
‘He’s like: “Sorry, sorry, that’s mine, yep, got to pick that up”.
‘No one else would be able to get away with it but it was Warnie. Nice guy, really good fella, and yeah, I still can’t believe he’s gone.
‘We lost some greats back-to-back, Rod Marsh, Andrew Symonds, Lee, who took 310 wickets across 76 Tests, said.
The fast bowler revealed how Warne once walked onto an airplane and accidentally sprayed nearly $40,000 worth of notes across the plane
The larger-than-life cricket great was an inspiration to many young cricketers, having enjoyed a glittering career taking 708 wickets across 145 Tests for Australia
Lee revealed that Mark Waugh (right) was the only man who dared sledge Warne (left)
‘You just have these team-mates that become family and you know these guys so well.’
The conversation went on to who in that great Australian cricket side would be able to sledge Warne, with Lee revealing that only Mark Waugh dared sledge the Aussie cricket king.
‘Junior would just call it,’ he said, speaking about Waugh, who was affectionately nicknamed Junior, because he was the younger twin brother of fellow Aussie great Steve Waugh.
‘No one else could say it to Warnie. You couldn’t say to Warnie: “Ah mate, I wouldn’t be doing that... You shouldn’t say that...” Nah, it’s Warnie.
However, if someone did call Warne out, Lee revealed how the legendary spinner would react.
‘He’d be like: “Who are you?”,’ Lee said, laughing.
‘You don’t say boo to the king, right?’
He then continued: ‘Junior, bang! He was the only guy that he [Warne] would take it from. Junior is so raw and he’s great company to be around. But he would call him out if he didn’t do something right.’
