Batsmen need to be brave against Lyon

WHEN England first faced Nathan Lyon in the UK four years ago they dismissed him as “an average off-spinner”.

Now they’ve been forced to accept the unassuming tweaker has morphed into the second coming of Shane Warne.

England great Michael Vaughan says Lyon is dictating terms in this series as Warne did and warned that the urn would be surrendered in Perth unless batsmen were prepared to blast him out of the attack.

For all the talk about Australia’s much-vaunted pace attack, Vaughan says this has been Lyon’s Ashes and it’s up to England now to decide whether they want to go down without a roar.

“Nathan Lyon has been the surprise of the series because every time he’s had the ball in his hand I don’t remember him not having a spell where you thought, ‘Wait a minute he’s holding an end. Wait a minute he’s getting wickets’,” said Vaughan.

“England have Nathan Lyon.

“I don’t think the England players have taken enough of a risk against him. For instance when you played against to nullify Shane Warne you had to gamble to try to knock him out of the attack or off his length.

“I look at Nathan Lyon three or four years ago and he was an average off-spinner.

“He’s now a high-class offspinner. If you allowed him to bowl he’d have you. I’m not saying Nathan Lyon is in Warnie’s category yet but he’s doing a similar job, so you have to gamble.”