Richard Hadlee rips Brett Lee

I was shocked watching Brett Lee's dangerous attack on  TV anchor Piers Morgan. Morgan was defenseless against a fast bowler attacking his body and struck  four times. What possessed Lee to engage in this low class intimidation. But more amazingly what possessed the worlds top cricket commentators to approve of the whole circus? 

It was reassuring to read Hadlee's views. He called it dangerous, demeaning and something that brought cricket into disrepute. I couldn't agree more. Body line had nothing on this!

Lee needed to bowl fast and at the wickets, that would have made his point. Morgan shouldn't have mouthed off.....but he took those four body blows without complaint. The whole episode took a lot of guts....and he emerged with far more credit than Lee. This could have been a fun episode, rather than a nasty one.

If the 48-year-old Morgan was bloodied, he remained unbowed after his bruising experience.

"It's made me reassess what you need out here on an Ashes tour and that is courage, fortitude and a Churchillian spirit of never giving in despite overwhelming odds," he said.

CNN digital writer Chris Murphy plays amateur cricket with Morgan, so what was his analysis of his teammate's performance?

"Having played cricket with Piers on numerous occasions, it's well known he has two shots: a forward defense and a heave to the leg side," said Murphy. "Sadly, he wasn't able to exhibit either.

"Charging down the wicket at someone bowling nearly 150 kph isn't brave, it's just plain stupid. But Piers deserves full marks for the guts he showed in the face of a relentless barrage from Brett Lee.

"The sight of any batsman backing away from his stumps is a sign he's troubled by the pace of the bowler, but in this case it was probably a wise idea to prevent his chin being shattered.

"A still head, straight bat and balance are the fundamentals of batting -- sadly for Piers, none of those elements were on show in Melbourne. Thankfully though, he is still alive to tell the tale."

Read: World record cricket crowd at MCG sees Australia on top

The England players who were the subject of Morgan's Twitter angst did at least return to form Friday to take control of the fourth Test at the MCG.

Their nemesis Johnson took five wickets to leave England 255 all out, but the visitors hit back to have the home side reeling on 167 for nine at stumps and facing the prospect of defeat after three earlier easy victories.

Read: Kallis set to retire from Test match cricket

In South Africa, fast bowler Dale Steyn put on a display that Lee at his best would be proud of, taking six wickets for 100 runs as India were all out for 334 in their first innings in Durban.

Retiring legend Jacques Kallis became only the second man in Test history to take 200 catches during the course of the second day.

 "He cracked his rib and broke his wrist."

Really?? Piers must be a man of steel, for a man suffering the above injuries he seemed pretty chatty and jovial following the Over.

 WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE SPORT OF CRICKET THE aUSSIES HAVE BEEN WITH ALL THE FOUL LANGUAGE, SLEDGING AND NOW THIS... IN FAIRNESS Arstralians aren't renowned for their intelligence...Redsman being a case in point...thicker than flies on a barby some would say.....Aussies, no one asked for a whitewash in the Ashes either... just have a wash will do ....to an Aussie, soap would be like Neighbours or Home and Away....you can still smell the stench from that underarm...

...no doubt the World Chumpion cricket team from SA will kick their butt when they play next...Bean Brain no choking for a change please mate...

Take it easy on yr team... i see the fans have already forced one player to call it a day after the debacle at the last test...

Former SA cricketer KP also the cause of Swanns recent departure for England i hear??? Surely KP head's not that far up his arse lol... 

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 27, 2013

...and where's Redsman to give us another lecture on sportsmanship ...and not playing 'in the spirit of the game'... a constant theme of his...

...that twat is always bleating on about fairness and the lack of any but i'm sure he's embarrassed how Brett Lee repeatedly overstepped the mark and bowled wide...it looked like Lee deliberately chose to play the man instead of taking wickets in a deliberate attempt to cause grevious bodily harm....

..but that cannot be as Arstralians are such great sportsmen and it's always the other team that does the dirt.......

....c'mon Redsman show yr ugly head and give us another lecture on fairness buddy...

...could you even call it bowling??... more like chucking like a drunk...

Brycey for all your barbs you are obviously just another JEALOUS kiwi of the Australian way of life... why else would you even bring me into this considering I haven't even posted for over a month....?

You clearly are a complete a insecure bloke with nothing better to do than worry about some faceless entity on a random rugby blog... cheer up....! Ewen is turning the Wallabies around just like the Aussie Cricketers have turned around under Lehman...

FTR The background to this was Piers was tweeting all sorts of hype calling the pom cricketers' cats for backing down to Mitch Johnson - then he said he'd face Mitch in the nets no worries....

Obviously Mitch is current player and couldn't/ wouldn't accommodate his challenge so channel 9 arranged Brett Lee to step in - who is still pretty quick...

I don't think Lee did the right thing by bowling @ his body but I'm sure it showed Piers a thing or two about a calling his countrymen cowards in the face of Mitch Johnson...

As for next month v the Saffas in cricket this is going to be ALL TIME... Aussies are back baby and I can predict the chokers of the cricket world will be in for a nasty surprise with this newly emerged cricketing powerhouse.... back to where we should be...........

btw Bryce.... I didn't think kiwis had a cricket team....? Oh that's right there about as good as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe....  

 Redsman...yea i'm really jealous of the Australian lifestyle....and tell us what's it like to fk a kangaroo? 

Morgan is being cast as an obnoxious  Pommy....and he is a bit of a gadfly. But I have seen a number of his interviews and he asks the tough questions of all parties. And he has a twinkle in his his eye, he is not as strident as most of these talking heads.

Morgan grew up in his parents' pub, carrying up  bottles from the cellar. He is no silver spo on guy. Facing up to Brett Lee should have been a feel good prank. Brett could have bowled him one bumper, allowed him to hit the ball once and bowled him a few times. Everybody would have gone away with a laugh instead of a sneer.