Five for Lyon but Banglas hit back
NATHAN Lyon is primed to become the southpaw slayer this Ashes summer, after last night’s merciless feast on Bangladeshi left-handers saved Pat Cummins from melting in the Chittagong heat.
The record-breaking offspinner went on an lbw rampage to pocket his third fivewicket haul in as many Tests, sending an ominous warning to an England side planning to turn up at the gates of the Gabba with no fewer than seven lefty batsmen in their order.
However, Australia’s facesaving mission remains in the balance after Bangladesh fought back hard on day one to be 6-253 at stumps and leaving irreplaceable fast bowler Cummins battling heat illness in the oppressive conditions.
Cummins (17 overs) returned to the field in the last session, but the normally lethal weapon looked cooked in his final spell and captain Steve Smith must be on high alert to not break the 23-year-old as the only sole fast bowler picked in Australian attack in 40 years — after selectors went in with a three-pronged spin attack.
Lyon bagged outstanding figures of 5-77 off a marathon 28 overs, with under-siege wicketkeeper Matt Wade also responding to conjecture over his spot in the team.
Wade played no small part with a great catch off Ashton Agar, plus a superb leg-side stumping off Lyon to break an ominous 100-run partnership late in the day.
If Australia can find a way to strike out Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (62 not out) it should leave the home side will short for its first innings after the hosts won the toss and batted on a pitch for which 370 would seem par.
This time last year Lyon limped out of a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka and was set to be axed for the home Test summer against South Africa and Pakistan, only to hold on by the skin of his teeth.
However, in anticipation of the Ashes blockbuster, Lyon has hit career-best form in the subcontinent and captain Smith is ready to unleash his man-eating spinner on England’s wobbly bats after four of his victims yesterday were lefties.
“England probably have a lot of left-handers,” Smith said.
“I don’t want to go into that too much, but I dare say Nathan Lyon is going to play a pretty important role there.”
With that resounding endorsement ringing in his ears, Lyon went out and defied the blazing heat and sapping humidity to fire through Bangladesh’s defences with figures of 4-35 from his first 15 overs and set up a solid platform for Australia to avoid the chastening low of plum- meting to No.6 on the world rankings.
Lyon, who last week surged past 250 wickets, is in unstoppable form as he rockets up the charts as Australia’s seventhleading wicket-taker, with Craig McDermott (291) his next target on the road to the magic 300 mark.