The old adage that fast bowlers ran in off quite a few paces, let the ball fly and followed it up with some well chosen lip, and death stares towards the batsmen, is a simplication of the work that goes into being a quick.

Well, no, perhaps not entirely. The lip, and the death stares are essential but the idea that bowling is as simple as running in and letting it go- that's where the problem needs to be mended.

And the old school thought that fast bowlers are dumb and lack the brain capacity it takes to think is batsman out is, well, wrong.

To help unravel the mystery and techniques of fast bowling, Australia's fastest pace man, Brett Lee, with the help of New South Wales high performance manager Alan Campbell and New South Wales rookie Doug Bollinger, who has played in the NSW 2nd XI and two games for NSW proper, will shed some light on pace bowling and add a few new dimensions to what it takes to be a fast bowler.

To bowl at any speed you need to be fit, but especially when bowling at great pace fitness is essential. But being fit is a loose word. Campbell suggests the fitness needed is more specific than say being able to run 1.6 km.

"You need to be fit. That includes flexibility, strength, core strength and an ability to carry out the skill and a fitness level, which tries to prevent injury.

"But the level of fitness must be high so that you can work your way back from the injury," says Campbell.

Lee is a testament to the level of fitness that is required from bowlers to maintain their place in a side. Lee has had to remodel his action, and work his way back to full fitness from back, ankle, arm and side injuries.

After all these injuries, Lee has taken on a new initiative upon himself to help guarantee fitness and help keep him off the injury list.

"During last year's pre-season, we [Australian fitness trainer, Jock Campbell and Lee] basically did a lot of extra work. I knew that if I was to get back to where I was prior to busting my arm or having a sore back…I would have to be at that top fitness level again.

"We did some studies to find that if a person who plays sport and drinks are 10-15 times more likely to be injured.

"I never ever was a big drinker but I thought I'll give it a go because, I've had a few of them [injuries] in the past. I went a whole two months without having an alcoholic beverage and it is amazing how I felt- I felt so much better…It wasn't a hard thing to do. It's such a small sacrifice," says Lee.

So once the fitness side of the house is in order, a bowler needs to have what's known as a "biomechanical sound action".

Campbell explains further: "They must have a biomechanically sound action, not only to prevent injury but so when they deliver the ball it will go where you want it to go for as many times as you like."

Bollinger agrees. While his action has never been under scrutiny, he had to improve and work on his follow through.

"Before, I used to stop straight away and was jarring my pelvis because my action was not right."

Bollinger though agrees that everyone has a different action and just like a fingerprint it is unique.

"Just because your neighbour or team-mate has a different action doesn't mean that yours is wrong. Everyone has a different action, you just need to find what's right for you," Bollinger says.

Even the run-up to deliver the ball is unique to each individual. Lee bowls off 24 paces or 23.30 metres whereas Bollinger takes 21 paces. The length of the run-up though is determined by an individual's comfort level rather than a scientific answer.

"I discovered my run-up by testing it out. I tried 20, wasn't enough and then I tried more than 21 and that was too much, so it was more a process of trial and error rather than someone saying what I should bowl off," says Bollinger.

In the Australian camp these days, things are a bit more technical. Lee measures his run-up before the start of play with a measuring tape. This though has more to do with injury prevention and getting the run-up right rather than because Lee was told to run off 23.30m.

"We [Australian cricket team] have a lot of things with run-ups lately. They did studies to say that a person who's walking out their mark…if you think about it... if your hamstrings are tight and you try to pace out and then the next one you're feeling a lot more flexible…each step could be two or three centimetres different and then that puts you out half a metre or so…we have just gone back to the old-fashioned tape measure," says Lee.

Although the physical aspects of a fast bowler are important so too is their ability to control the mental side of cricket. Cricket is very much a mental game and requires bowlers who are able to out-think their opponents.

"There was the old school of thinking that fast bowlers are dumb. But this isn't the case. They must have a mental capacity to work out a batsman," says Campbell.

"In fact, fast bowlers are fantastic thinkers. They must find the batsman's weakness and then get them out.

"But not everyone can spot the weakness and even if they can, they might not be able to sight and adopt a strategy to know how to get the batter out," Campbell continues.

From this mental capacity, the fast bowlers must have variation in their deliveries.

"Variation in delivering different types of balls and not relying purely on pace."

Lee isn't quite sure on how many deliveries he has due to variation.

"There are slight variations and different techniques that can make one ball like 10 different types of balls. You've got your bouncer, yorker, slower ball, off cutter, leg cutter and then it comes down to different types of things with you - but it comes down to the big five I think," says Lee.

Bollinger, at 21-years-old, has not yet developed the range of deliveries that Lee has learnt. He relies on four major deliveries and the variations he can get from them. Bollinger's four are the outswinger, inswinger, the leg cutter and he relies on the reverse swing with the old ball late in the innings.

Along with all these components comes the nutrition side of things as well as adopting a healthy side to living. Campbell believes the Lee way thinking is correct.

"As Brett Lee once said to a group of kids we had in here, `eat all things your mum tells you to eat, all the green things on your plate.' But he also backed that up by telling them that MacDonalds and KFC should be eaten once a month not once a night."

Bollinger agrees saying decent sleep; lots of water plus all the fruit and vegetables can be of some benefit.

Yet if they all had to recommend one thing out of all the components that go together to make a good fast bowler, they say it's rhythm.

Campbell thinks that rhythm and experimentation are the ways to becoming a good quick.

Lee concedes the most important thins to work on is you rhythm and sometimes it something that cannot be taught.

"The most important technique for bowling fast I would say is rhythm.

"People think you have to have big muscles to bowl quick or you have to bench press 500 kilos. The most important thing about bowling quick is having a nice action, having a rhythmical action.

"Bowling fast you have to have the momentum going to the crease and it's a matter of controlled aggression. So I'd definitely put it down to rhythm.

Bowling fast is an entirely personal experience.

What is right for Brett Lee will not always be right for Glenn McGrath and so on. Being a quick comes down to hard work and dedication as well as an ability to want to learn and develop the techniques and skills that you have.

© CricInfo

This report does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Cricket Board.