Lyon can deliver — with just a little luck

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 a desperately unlucky opening innings.

With a bowling attack that has claims on being the world’s best, Australia may have been disappointed to concede a 90-run first-innings lead — especially with 74 of those runs coming via England’s ninth and 10th-wicket stands.

England’s Moeen Ali has shown already in Australia’s second innings that spin will play a huge part on days four and five, with the off-spinner — considered several rungs below Lyon in terms of quality — landing an early blow with the dismissal of Cameron Bancroft. Moeen was even able to trouble the unflappable Steve Smith with a tricky spell, getting significant turn to the right-hander by hitting a dangerous channel wide of the off stump.

They are all factors which should have Lyon licking his lips, rather than kicking stones after what was a particularly frustrating couple of days despite finishing with figures of 3-112.

Until Lyon closed England’s innings when a hobbled Jimmy Anderson swung for the fences — realising that even if bighitting is not his game, it was preferable to putting his strained calf through the pain of the 22-yard stumble down the pitch for a single — he’d taken just two wickets from 262 balls.

In truth, he should have been rewarded with considerably more.

And not just because of Australia’s failure to review Lyon’s strong lbw shout which would have snared the wicket of Rory Burns for just 21 early on day two had it been sent upstairs.

If it felt like Lyon had been unlucky throughout England’s three-day first innings — as the off-spinner himself would surely have been telling friends and colleagues after a frustrating, wicketless day on Friday night — it’s because, quite simply, he was. The 31-year-old drew 49 false shots from England’s batsmen — made up of 25 edges, and beating the bat 24 times.