Lyon has a turn at lacklustre English

AUSTRALIA’S leading slow bowler Nathan Lyon has landed a pre-Ashes jab on England while calling for more of the spin-friendly pitches that brought the Poms undone in the controversial third Test loss to India.

Debate is still raging over whether the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch in Ahmedabad was fit for Test cricket after the game finished inside two days, with England thrashed by 10 wickets.

Twenty-eight of the 30 wickets fell to spinners, leading to claims the deck was too favourable to slow bowlers.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan labelled the pitch “awful” & and a “complete lottery”.

But Lyon (pictured), who has taken 399 wickets to become Australia’s greatest off-spinner, loved every moment of the game.

”I thought it was absolutely brilliant,” he said. “The thing is we play on seaming wickets around the world and teams get bowled out for 47, 60 and nobody ever says a thing.

“But as soon as it starts spinning, everyone in the world seems to start crying about it.

“I don’t get it. You’ve got to get better and challenge yourself to find a way to compete and survive on those wickets.

“I’m all for it. It was entertaining. I was glued to it.”

Lyon, a former curator, suggested England was outmanoeuvred and out-thought by the Indians at the selection table and on the field.

The hosts now hold a 2-1 series lead with a Test to play.

“The best thing about this Test match is that England went in with four seamers,” Lyon said. “That will do me. I don’t need to say any more about that.”

Australia need England to win the last Test against India, staring on Thursday, to make the inaugural ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand at Lord’s in June.

If they fail to qualify, the Australians’ next Test is against England in November.