Now is the hour for Lyon to seize the role of Test matchwinner
AS vital as Steve Smith is to Australia’s hopes in the Ashes opener, so too must spin king Nathan Lyon recalibrate and step up after an unlucky opening innings.
Australia may have been disappointed to concede a 90run first-innings lead — especially with 74 of those runs coming via England’s ninth and 10th wicket stands.
England’s Moeen Ali has shown in Australia’s second innings that spin will play a big part on days four and five, with the offspinner landing an early blow with the dismissal of Cameron Bancroft.
Moeen was even able to trouble the unflappable Smith with a tricky spell.
They are all factors that should have Lyon licking his lips, rather than kicking stones after what was a frustrating couple of days despite finishing with figures of 3-112.
Until he closed England’s innings when a hobbled Jimmy Anderson swung for the fences he had taken only two wickets from 262 balls.
In truth, he should have been rewarded with considerably more.
And not only because of the failure to review Lyon’s strong lbw shout, which would have snared the wicket of Rory Burns for 21 early on day two had it been sent upstairs.
If it felt like he had been unlucky in England’s first innings — as the offspinner himself would surely have been telling friends and colleagues after a frustrating, wicketless day on Friday night — it is because he was.
The 31-year-old drew 49 false shots — comprised of 25 edges, and beating the bat 24 times — as he routinely bamboozled opener Burns and his unconventional, but seemingly impenetrable, technique.
On average, according to analyst CricViz, a wicket falls every 12 false shots in Test matches. Lyon’s return of one wicket every 16 false shots falls comfortably below the norm.
Which is not to say he bowled perfectly, either.
With his first delivery Lyon managed to get his stock ball to jag back sharply and almost take the off stump of Joe Root.
Immediately the promise of a bagful of wickets for Lyon was tantalisingly present.
However, he bowled straighter than usual — with 29 per cent of his deliveries aimed at the stumps, compared with a career average of 20 per cent — which ignored the awkward channel outside off.
For years the knock on Lyon was that he did not have the quality to spin Australia to victory on wearing wickets.
Australia has chased the impossible — a replacement for Shane Warne — since 2006, and in Lyon it has the closest thing imaginable.
He has become the fabled ‘GOAT’ in the hearts and minds of fans — and the man who can shoulder the burden of a team that picked a former keeper at No.6, a spot typically reserved for an all-rounder.
This Test, and this series, Lyon has the chance to prove he’s everything he promises to be: the pressure value, the wicket threat and, ultimately, the matchwinner.