Lyon to walk the tough talk
Pundits expect bowler to live up to hype today
THIS time last summer Nathan Lyon was so down on confidence his place in the Test team was anything but secure.
Twelve months on and the off-spinner is so high on life he’s goading English players, past and present, with the sort of vigour usually reserved for pace bowlers who have the venomous arsenal to back up the chat.
Lyon turned 30 on Monday, the day he did all that chatting, talking about “ending careers” and “scared batsmen”.
He sent the English media, and a few former players, into a spin. It’s the confidence that comes from taking 46 wickets in seven Tests this year, including five five-wicket hauls. Lyon is now the potential matchwinning spinner Australia needs.
Consider his record at the Gabba. It was Shane Warne’s favourite pitch in the world – no one as taken more Test wickets there – and despite Australian decks usually offering nothing for tweakers, Lyon has also had fun in Brisbane.
Of his 269 Test scalps, the most by an Australian off-spinner, Lyon has taken 26 in six Tests at the Gabba. Take out last year’s two-wicket return against Pakistan, when he was in a slump, and Lyon has not taken fewer than four wickets in any of his past five Tests in Brisbane. He took seven on his Gabba debut against New Zealand in 2011, and is 10th on the list of all-time Australian wicket-takers at the venue.
No wonder former English wicketkeeper Matt Prior was so keen to bite back at Lyon this week. Lyon dismissed Prior in both innings in Brisbane in 2013, for a duck and four.
Lyon loves playing against England too. He has 44 wickets in 13 Tests against the old enemy.
Darren Berry, who first picked Lyon for the South Australian team when he was Redbacks coach and has become a mentor, said the spinner was “flat as a tack” leading in to last summer, despite taking 18 wickets in the 3-0 series loss in Sri Lanka that preceded it.
“But to his eternal credit, and why he is so good, his character has shown through,’’ Berry said. “He persisted when the whole world was against him and it looked like his spot in the team was in jeopardy.
“He worked hard, with me and (national spin coach) John Davison. I think he has great character and that’s why it’s held him in good stead and the confidence has grown enormously.”
Berry conceded it was “unusual” for Lyon to drop bombs like he has this week.
“But he’s obviously pretty confident with where his game is at,” Berry said.
While the talk leading up to this series has been all about the Australian quicks unloading fire and brimstone on unprepared English batsmen, Lyon is not without his supporters as a key plank of the attack.
Given Mitchell Starc has not played a Test since March, Pat Cummins has never played more than two Tests in a row and there’s no all-rounder, Lyon should shoulder plenty of the workload.
But former Test captain Michael Clarke hoped Lyon would not be used just to “bowl dot balls”.
“Because he’s so good now, he’s an attacking weapon, he can take wickets,” Clarke said.
“There might be stages through the Test series where one of these quicks that we’re talking about has to do a holding pattern to allow Nathan Lyon to attack and try and win the game for Australia.
“I believe Australia are going to win the Ashes and Nathan Lyon is going to play a massive part,” Clarke said.
THERE MIGHT BE STAGES THROUGH THE TEST SERIES WHERE ONE OF THESE QUICKS THAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT HAS TO DO A HOLDING PATTERN TO ALLOW NATHAN LYON TO ATTACK AND TRY AND WIN THE GAME FOR AUSTRALIA. MICHAEL CLARKE