By Martin Gough

Lillee (right) is now involved in coaching fast bowlers

Waiting to speak to Dennis Lillee is a great way to find out how opening batsmen of the 1970s and '80s must have felt as they took guard against Australia.

The manic glare, drooping moustache and blazing pace dealt with a then-record 355 Test victims, all dispatched with extreme prejudice.

This is a man who kicked Javed Miandad's rear during a Test match.

An argument about an aluminium bat saw him have a stand-up row with Mike Brearley.

And a Tasmanian dressing-room suffered at the hands of Lillee and Ian Botham after a test of agility involving beer cans.

Fortunately, at 53, the scourge of England in 29 Ashes Tests is not coming in off his long run.

In fact, he is uncomfortable with the title given to his new autobiography, Menace.

"There are a few incidents that I was involved with that I now wish I hadn't," he admits.

"I'd like people to judge anyone who plays sport overall and not just on two or three incidents that they may be involved in."

Those guys to me look as though they've got the goods Lillee on England's young bowlers Read more

Lillee is quite the opposite of the shaggy-haired aggressor on the book cover - most obviously because the moustache is all that remains.

And he takes a pantomime approach to his dislike of old enemy England, against whom he took 167 wickets at an average of 21.00.

"It's hard for the players of today to realise the passion we had playing for Australia against England," he says.

"Test cricket was The Ashes when you were brought up an Australian. It was the series we all lived for, the series we all built up for.

"It's not a matter of saving your best but maybe it brought the best out. To me it was war, playing against the absolute enemy. But then Grade cricket in Australia was war too!"

Face to face but not eye to eye: Lillee and Brearley

So did he choke on his cornflakes when close friend Rod Marsh, now an England selector, announced in a Sunday newspaper that he was now "100% English in terms of cricket"?

Actually he understands, but he refuses to believe Marsh does not still "barrack for Australia".

"There's no compromise with Rod. If he's there coaching England he's full on. He did it in India - he set up their Academy and he was full on," he explains.

"We've discussed this quite a bit. If we've got something to offer and they want to use it then we'll do our utmost, with any country, any player.

"You can still in your heart remain Australian and hope Australia wins but you address the situation you're in and do it well."

While former team-mates and opponents clog the broadsheets and broadcast booths, the former fast bowler now spends much of his time coaching a new generation.

A serious spinal injury that kept him out of action for two years in his prime led to Lillee thinking and learning more about the way his bowling action worked.

LILLEE FACTFILE Born: Subiaco, Perth, 18/7/1949 Tests: 70 355 wkts, ave 23.92, best 7-83 ODIs: 63 103 wkts, ave 20.82, best 5-34

"When I was asked to coach I called on that," he says.

"I was out for nearly two years but I came out a better bowler because I understood it more and became a guy who could coach it as well."

His position as Australia's leading wicket-taker has been surmounted by Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, but he worries that burnout could blight young fast bowlers.

"We've been saying this in Australia for years. We've got to organise a pool of fast bowlers that are good enough to play," he argues.

"In baseball they have a rotation system and we have to find one that really works in Test and one-day cricket. Otherwise you'll have burnout.

"There's not going to be a McGrath that can go for 10 years without injury. Every other fast bowler breaks down fairly regularly.

"It's one of the most unnatural actions in the world and it's tough on your body."

If you do it properly it can be tough on opponents, too, as Lillee once showed.