Former Australia speedster Brett Lee reckons that there is nothing wrong in showing emotion and aggression on the field as he doesn’t want to see robots on the field. But he also warned against behavior “crossing the line”. The ongoing Australia tour of South Africa has been surrounded with a bunch of on-field altercations with South African pacer Kagiso Rabada appealing against a two-Test ban for a shoulder barge on Aussie skipper Steve Smith in the second Test.

During his chat with AFP, Lee said that controlled aggression is good for the sport. He said, “The thing that I will say about that, in all honesty, is we don’t want robots on the field. Of course, there is a line that the players should not cross. 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.”

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He further added, “Now I am not saying I agree with what happened and 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.”

Rabada returned with match figures of 11/ for 150 at Port Elizabeth, an effort that was praised even by his opponents, but in the current scenario he is barred from featuring in the final two Tests of the series, which is locked at 1-1, should his appeal fail.

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Praising Rabada, Brett said, “He’s good, I like him. Gets good shape on the ball. He comes around the wicket a fair bit to the left-handers, which I like and has got good pace and aggression and that’s what you need.”

However Lee mourns the fact that modern-day pacers are not keeping the yorker in their fast bowling armoury especially in the Twenty20 format. While commentating during the recently concluded T20 tri-series in Sri Lanka, he said bowling in the shortest format was challenging, especially towards the end of the innings.

Lee described, “I think it’s a different style… but one thing I haven’t seen throughout the tournament enough is yorkers. A yorker in Test, one-day or T20 cricket can still take wickets and for some reasons bowlers now, in particular, fast bowlers, are hitting a length at the end. I don’t necessarily agree that’s the best tactic.”

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The fearsome pacer was though impressed with Bangladesh fast bowler Rubel Hossain for his variations throughout the tournament, including consistent use of the yorker. Hossain played a crucial role in Bangladesh making the final of the tri-series, which they lost in a last-ball thriller to India.

Praising Rubel’s ability of bowling yorkers, Brett said, “To me, he is a guy that probably has been the only one in this tournament that has kept the seam upright, comes off a short run-up and he bowls a good yorker. Yes, guys have been bowling yorkers throughout the tournament but I want to see it more often.”