Lee reveals he was close to quitting cricket over coach Buchanan's broken promise

Former Australian Test fast bowler Brett Lee has revealed how he nearly quit cricket because of a promise that was broken by former coach John Buchanan.

Lee, whose autobiography titled "My Life" was released in Sydney yesterday, said that in 2006, Buchanan had broken a promise that sent his relationship with him spiralling beyond retrieval and even made him contemplate quitting.

The incident centred around the lead-up to the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in 2006, when his then wife, Liz, was expecting their son Preston.

In his autobiography, My Life, the now 34-year-old says Buchanan went back on a pledge to allow him to join the team in Brisbane as late as the afternoon before the first Test.

Lee's son was ultimately born in Sydney a week before the start of the match but the express quick was left fuming at the coach's change of heart.

"He congratulated me, and then said I had to link up with the team on Saturday night, which was four days before the Test would begin," the Sydney Morning Herald quotes Lee, as writing.

Lee adds: "I adamantly said that wasn't possible, because I wanted to take Preston and Liz home on the Monday. I told Buck I'd fly to Brisbane straight after that, but he knocked back the idea. That made me angry."

Lee says Buchanan, who is now New Zealand's director of cricket, wanted him in Brisbane ahead of schedule for a team walk on the Sunday and a team meeting that night.

"I couldn't believe what I'd heard," Lee writes. "Buck had turned on what he'd initially said. I was in the hospital ... and told him firmly that I wasn't going to leave Liz and Preston to get home by themselves while I went for a walk and a chat with my teammates.

"We argued, but neither of us would budge, so I hung up. I got off the phone and said to myself: 'This is bullshit!' There and then I contemplated throwing everything in."

Lee eventually prevailed in the standoff, with Buchanan agreeing to shift the team meeting back, but he says from that point on "Buck lost my support".

"I thought he was a great family man, which made his treatment of me during Preston's birth all the more disappointing," Lee writes.

"He let me down when I needed his support the most.

In his autobiography, Lee is highly critical of Buchanan's approach during his eight years as Australian coach, arguing that he did not help his bowling "one little bit".

He recounts some examples of Buchanan's unorthodox methods in the book, launched in Sydney yesterday.

"He probably got the worst out of me in many ways," Lee says. "I eventually got to the stage where I did my own thing, which I reckon really annoyed him because he lost some control. He governed by the clipboard, and we had way too many meetings.'

Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has previously been dismissive of Buchanan's importance to the Australia's rich period of success during his term as coach from 1999 to 2007, saying the coach was "living in pixieland".