Lyon exposes hosts to take unlikely place among greats
Spinner’s guile was the difference, but success is also down to planning, writes Tim Wigmore
They say that if you can bowl spin well in Australia, you can bowl it well anywhere. This decade, Test spinners have conceded 47 runs per wicket in Australia – the second highest in the world, and 11 runs more than in England. That Australia is not the most expensive place for spin is down to Nathan Lyon alone: he averages 33 Down Under this decade, even while Ravichandran Ashwin and Graeme Swann have averaged around 50. In his five Tests in Australia, Moeen Ali averages 115.
Through bounce, flight, subtle variations and relentless accuracy, Lyon has found a way to prosper for eight years in the most insalubrious conditions for his art.
As he has done so, he has become Australia’s accidental great: the fourth highest wicket-taker in the country’s Test history, who now requires just four more wickets to vault past Dennis Lillee.
But, all the while, one blemish has remained. Unusually, Lyon’s fourth-innings record is inferior to his overall average; he has not always seemed to relish going from support act to the main man.
On the final day at Edgbaston, Australia’s hopes of taking all 10 English second-innings wickets on a pitch that was wearing but, by the standard of fifth days, was nothing treacherous, rested chiefly with Lyon. He was the centrepiece of the time-honoured, final-day plan: first-choice spinner from one end, while the quicks rotate from the other. And, while the pitch was offering useful turn and bounce, Moeen’s ordeal the preceding day was a reminder that there are no guarantees, even with conditions in your favour.
As many envisaged, Lyon was involved in Australia’s first wicket – but through a simple catch at gully rather than his bowling. Yet after he entered the attack in the 11th over, Lyon bowled 20 of the next 21 overs from the River End, with just a solitary over off.
While Lyon claimed six wickets – thanks to a cocktail of impeccable control to get the ball to bite out of the footmarks and a slightly quicker speed than he favours in Australia – it was his rivalry with Moeen that was most revealing. Across the second innings in the match, Lyon bowled both quicker and generated significantly more turn. He was also more accurate: 51 per cent of his deliveries were on both a good line and length according to Cricviz, compared with 38 per cent of Moeen’s.
Having shown up Moeen’s bowling, Lyon exposed his batting again. In the first innings, Moeen simply left a straight delivery which uprooted his off stump. This time, Lyon repeatedly turned the ball away from Moeen until he elicited a prod to second slip. Since the start of the 2017/18 Ashes, Lyon has dismissed Moeen nine times, while conceding just 92 runs.
“Nathan is bowling beautifully to him at the moment and seems to have a bit of a hold on him,” Lyon’s admiring captain, Tim Paine, said. “Nathan’s played on all different surfaces now, he knows exactly what he’s doing in all different situations.”
And as Lyon followed up Moeen’s wicket with that of Stuart Broad to his first ball, the sight of him bowling to James Anderson with six men around the bat: two slips, a silly point, what could best be described as a short point, a short leg and a leg slip, embodied the metamorphosis of this game.
For a sense of how Australia will savour this win, imagine that England were 122 for eight on the first day at the Gabba, yet still completed a thumping 251-run victory. This, essentially, is what Australia managed over their five days at Edgbaston – England’s very own Gabba. Add in the broader context – a decade since their last Ashes victory in England outside London; no Australian wins at Edgbaston in any format since 2001, including being pummelled by England in the World Cup semi-final three weeks ago; and Steve Smith’s return after 16 months away from the side – and you have one of Australia’s greatest away victories in Test cricket.
And, while this was a triumph for the deeds of Smith and Lyon, in a broader sense it was a victory for Australia’s years of meticulous planning. This was detectable in how they have used the Dukes ball in the past three years of the Sheffield Shield, encouraging their players to venture into the County Championship, sent an Australia A side to England during the World Cup, and then played old-fashioned trial matches in lieu of the intensity-free warm-ups with counties.
So perhaps the way that Australia stormed England’s citadel betrayed a curious asymmetry to this summer’s cricket. For England the World Cup was the centrepiece of the summer; for Australia – who have won three World Cups, and had six changes of prime minister since their last Test series win in England – the Ashes loomed as the main event. The suspicion is growing that these different priorities may culminate in both England and Australia winning the prize they most valued this summer.