Lyon in elite company
NATHAN Lyon’s recordbreaking tour of Bangladesh has propelled him to a careerhigh in the world Test bowling rankings.
Lyon moved up nine spots to No. 8 in the latest rankings, published by the International Cricket Council (ICC), breaking into the top 10 for the first time. The offspinner claimed 22 wickets in Bangladesh, one shy of Sri Lankan tweaker Rangana Herath’s record for a two-Test series.
With 46 Test scalps at an average of 22.35, Lyon overtook Indian spin kings Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin as the world’s leading wicket-taker in 2017. Lyon became just the second bowler to claim 13 wickets in a Test in Asia during his man-of-thematch performance in Chittagong, where Australia won by seven wickets to draw the series 1-1.
Australian coach Darren Lehmann heaped praise on Lyon, who had responded emphatically after being challenged to lift his performance on the subcontinent. “He’s really grown,” Lehmann said.
“Obviously, we changed the set-up of the side 12 months ago and we’ve had a lot of young guys come in the group.
“He’s had to take a next step as a leader so really pleased the way he’s gone about that.” Lyon shared man-of-the-series honours with David Warner, who scored centuries in both Tests to break his subcontinent drought.
Warner moved up one spot to fifth in the ICC Test batting rankings, while Peter Handscomb climbed to a careerhigh 24th and skipper Steve Smith retained his No. 1 spot.
Bangladesh star Shakib Al Hasan, who was man of the match in the first Test in Dhaka, also kept his crown as the world’s No. 1-ranked allrounder.