Lyon Emphasizes Spinner’s Role in Australia
Nathan Lyon has stressed the importance of including a spinner in every Test side in Australian conditions, even as speculation grows that England might field an XI without a specialist spinner during the upcoming Ashes.
Speaking ahead of the series, Lyon highlighted how variety changes the game:
“𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑽𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒕,” 𝑳𝒚𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆.
England, however, may take a different approach, relying on allrounder Will Jacks as a back-up option to Shoaib Bashir, as visiting spinners historically have struggled on Australian pitches. Since Lyon’s debut, overseas spinners average 62.09, compared to Lyon’s 31.08.
Recent Selection Twist for Lyon
Interestingly, Lyon himself was left out of Australia’s recent Test in Jamaica when selectors went with an all-pace attack under pink-ball conditions. The gamble paid off as Scott Boland took a hat-trick in West Indies’ collapse to 27 all out.
Lyon admitted he was disappointed but understood the reasoning:
“𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.”
Lyon Prepares for Ashes with NSW Captaincy
As he sits on 562 Test wickets, just one shy of Glenn McGrath’s tally, Lyon will fine-tune his Ashes preparation by captaining New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield against Western Australia. It marks only his second first-class captaincy, a role he described as a humbling honour.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓. 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏,” 𝑳𝒚𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Alongside his Shield duties, Lyon praised young batter Sam Konstas, urging patience and faith in the development of emerging Australian cricketers.
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