We’ll be right: Lyon dismisses concerns over Ashes prep
TEST spinner Nathan Lyon has rebuffed concerns that significant disruptions to Australia’s Ashes preparation will leave the national side underdone for the blockbuster five-match series against England.
Covid-19 outbreaks on the east coast have thrown the Sheffield Shield into limbo, with Cricket Australia yet to confirm when Victoria and Lyon’s NSW will play their first matches of the season.
After plans to move interstate were stymied, the state sides are set to play a series of matches against each other, leaving Lyon and Test aspirants Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski having to wait until the end of this month to start ironing out creases in the long form of the game.
Other Aussie Test stars may not get a chance to play red-ball cricket at all before the Ashes –
Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Dave Warner are all part of the T20 World Cup squad and are unlikely to play any Shield cricket before the opening Test in Brisbane.
They are also staring at completing hard quarantine on arrival home from the Cup.
After missing out on selection for the ODI and T20 tours of Bangladesh and the West Indies, and with Covid concerns preventing the Test side from touring, Lyon hasn’t played a firstclass game since April.
It’s the longest lay-off in the 33-year-old’s professional career, which he said had made him hungry to return.
“I’m itching to start playing some cricket,” he said on Thursday. “In my eyes there’s still going to be three really decent hit-outs (in the Sheffield Shield).
“I’m more than confident with my preparation. If the Test started tomorrow, I’d be itching to go, knowing that my skill set is where it needs to be.”
Lyon said while it was a shame to have gone through the winter without playing Test cricket, the situation was out of his hands.
“With the pandemic going on in the world, I don’t think we can argue too much,” he said.
“In saying that I’d love to playing more Test cricket, don’t get me wrong.”