Brett Lee admitted on Monday that he was "freaked out" by the injury he inflicted on England's Alex Tudor in the third Test at Perth on Sunday. Tudor required six stitches in a wound above his left eye after a Lee bouncer squeezed through the grill of his helmet. "It sort of freaked me out a little bit because I don't like seeing blood on the pitch," said Lee. "I went in to make sure that he was OK. He was pretty shaken up by it, I think he was in shock, but I went after the game to make sure he was OK and he was fine with it.

"He knows it is part of the game and people sometimes do get injured. It's part of Test cricket, but I certainly went up and apologised afterwards to make sure he was OK."

Lee defended his decision to bounce Steve Harmison just a few deliveries after poleaxeing Tudor. "[You've got to] keep them honest," he said. "It's Test cricket and it's all about intimidating a batsman to a certain extent.

"Spinners can intimidate a batsman as well and it's all about working to a plan that was trying to get him [Harmison] out and that happened." Lee got plenty of stick from the Barmy Army for that bouncer, but he had nothing but praise for the English followers, saying they were fantastic and added to the atmosphere.

He was also grateful that Nasser Hussain had defended his actions. "It's very good that Nasser did stick up [for me]. It is part of Test cricket, there's no such thing as a batting bunny these days. Most batsmen can hold a bat right down to a No. 11.

"Tudor is a fantastic batsman, he's a guy who scored 99 in Test cricket, so he's certainly no bunny, but unfortunately for him it was one of those things where the ball went through the grill and cleaned him up."

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