Brett Lee has backed the attack he played in over Pat Cummins and co. He says the Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath era had the psychological edge, in comments aired by Sony Sports and shared by Sportskeeda on 17 October 2026.
It is a reversal. In December 2025, before the Adelaide Ashes Test, Lee told AAP that the Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon group was the best ever. He ranked it above his own.
The numbers explain his first answer. What a batter felt at the crease explains his second.
On Sony Sports, Lee picked his old attack.
“I reckon our attack had the psychological edge. When you think about Shane Warne, his tactics and his ability to outsmart the batsman. And then you think of Glenn McGrath, 567 Test wickets, then definitely our attack.”
Brett Lee, Sony Sports, shared 17 October 2026
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Averages measure what happened. They do not measure what a batter carries into the next over. Against McGrath and Warne, there was no end to escape to.
McGrath would not give you a ball to score off. Then Warne came on, and he was not there to keep things quiet. He was there to work you out and take your wicket.
Pressure built from both ends without a break, and scorecards record the wicket, not the fear that set it up. That is why Lee can rank Cummins’ group higher on paper and still believe his own was harder to face.
What the Numbers Say
| As of December 2025 | McGrath, Warne, Lee, Gillespie | Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon |
|---|---|---|
| Combined Test wickets | 1,842 | 1,586 |
| Combined average | 25.24 | 26.51 |
| Tests played together | 16 | 35 |
| Wins together | 10 | 22 |
Figures reported by ABC, December 2025.
Lee’s group still leads on combined wickets and average. Cummins’ group has played more than twice as many Tests together and won 22 of them.
Lee’s 567 figure for McGrath does not match the record. McGrath finished with 563 Test wickets. 567 is the number of wickets the current quartet had taken while playing together, a record at the time.
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