Brett Lee wins the Allan Border Medal

And deservedly so. Fox Sports reports that Bing’s fabulous Test statistics over the past 12 months was what got him over the line ahead of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting.

It really has been a mature rising to peak form for Lee, who is undoubtedly in the best form of a career that has been a bit up and down since his stunning debut in the 1999/2000 Boxing Day Test against India. He’s added piercing line, length and variation to the raw pace that has been a characteristic of his action, and has seen his persistence rewarded over the past year. 40 wickets over 6 Tests this summer is a sterling effort, particularly given the competitive nature of the Test series against India and their world class batsmen.

Following Glenn McGrath’s retirement last year, it was evident that if someone didn’t step up and take the place that Pigeon held so magnificently over a period of over a decade, Australia’s dominance of world cricket would be in jeopardy. Not only has Brett Lee shown that he possesses a wise cricketing brain, but players such as Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark have worked tirelessly to ensure that they will see out lengthy Test and one day careers and take many wickets along the way.

All we need now is to work on finding our next world class spinner.

Jarrod Sammut extends his Panthers contract to 2010

Fox Sports reports. Very important re-signing for Penrith – Sammut was quite impressive in the games he played last year and will be a key asset if they are to climb up the table in 2008.