Lyon tamer wanted
Root wants bats to put pressure on spinner
ENGLAND skipper Joe Root has urged his batsmen to turn the tables on Australian spinner Nathan Lyon in the third Ashes Test at the WACA Ground, starting today.
The visitors are facing Ashes oblivion after going 2-0 down in the series, and Lyon has played a key role in their demise with 11 wickets at an average of 22.72.
The WACA deck has become a graveyard of sorts for spinners over the years, with not even the great Shane Warne able to snare a Test five-for at the venue.
But England still views Lyon as a key weapon it needs to negate in the crunch Test.
“It’s that cat and mouse part of cricket. You want to try to apply pressure as a batsman and get on top when the opportunities arise,” Root said.
“And credit to Nathan; he’s made that very difficult to do that from surfaces that have offered good spin for him from the start.
“We have to have a clear way of how we want to try to put him under a bit more pressure if we can, and manipulate the strike better, and try to rotate things and not get stuck down his end.
“If we manage to do that, hopefully that will free the scoring up and take the pressure away from facing the other guys as well.”
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan says the visi- tors need to attack Lyon more.
“There’s nothing worse than ending the series and not having a go,” Vaughan said.
“He’s bowling beautifully to the left-handers.
“In hindsight, England probably don’t prepare their line-up for Nathan Lyon. They probably nullified the three quicks and thought, ‘ We all should be able to play Nathan Lyon’.
“I think what’s important is if they do go the three lefthanders at the top of the order, if one or two of them are in when he comes on, one or two of them have to be prepared to take him on as well.
“It can’t be waiting until the right-handers. You’ve just got to work a way of rotating the strike.”