Lyons to hone ODI skills against India
NATHAN Lyon has always had an appetite for hard work but the GOAT is still hungry for more.
He’s worked like an ox for the Australian Test team, bowling more than 21,500 deliveries, but his lack of ODI appearances, and his cruel axing from the last World Cup squad, has always been the hardest thing for him to swallow.
For all that he’s achieved in Test cricket since making his debut in 2011, Lyon has only played 18 ODIS and has never played at the World Cup.
He almost did in 2015 but was dropped less than four months before it started and had to watch from the stands as Australia won on home soil.
Now he’s been given a second chance, picked to play in the threematch series against India starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground today, and has no time to dwell in the past. “It is what it is,” he said. “I understood why I haven’t been playing white ball cricket but I’ve got my opportunity now, so I just have to make sure I go out and take it with both hands.
“Like any Australian cricketer, or cricketer around the world, you want to play at the highest level against the best players in the world under extreme pressure, and that’s what the World Cup is. I obviously haven’t been a part of one but it’s my dream, so I really hope I get the opportunity to go over and represent Australia and hopefully have a great English summer leading into the Ashes.”
The Australian coach Justin Langer is as dumbfounded as everyone else why Lyon hasn’t been given many ODI chances.
“To me it would seem a waste of an opportunity with a person like Nathan, who is bowling so well, not to play him in white ball cricket, particularly with a World Cup coming up,” Langer said.
“He’s also a gun fieldsman. He’s got himself nice and fit. He’s like a little whippet in the field. He’s a very good fielder and he’s the best spin bowler in the world at the moment.
“So it would be a wasted opportunity not to have him in white ball cricket for us. Can’t wait to see how he goes.”
Lyon has already done a mountain of work this season and bowled more than 57 overs in the first innings of the last Test in Sydney. The 31-year-old is feeling fresh after taking a week off and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Australia pulling off an upset against the Indians.
“It was a tough Test series. They proved why they are the No.1 side but to be honest, I didn’t feel like we were that far off,” Lyon said while sampling an Indian-flavoured Chur Burger on offer at Field of Flavours located outside the ground today.
“They’ve got a side full of superstars but we've got a side full of young exciting talent, and we’ve obviously got some X factors of our own in Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell.
“So I’m confident we can go out there and play a really positive brand of cricket and really challenge India.”