Lyon advocates playing a spinner in every Test in Australia as he starts his season by captaining New South Wales in the Shield.
Lyon wants ‘a spinner in every side’ in Tests in Australia.
In the face of mounting speculation that England may decide to play without a frontline option at some point during the forthcoming Ashes, Nathan Lyon has acknowledged the importance of always playing a spinner in Australian conditions.
When England considers the balance of their team after selecting all-rounder Will Jacks, who last played Test cricket in 2022, as the backup to offspinner Shoaib Bashir, it will add one of the intriguing dynamics in the lead-up to the first Test next month, even though it falls into the category of unsurprising assessments from Lyon, as he himself stated.
“You’re asking the spinner if they want to pick a spinner,” Lyon said with a smile. “For me, yeah, you’re picking a spinner in every side. Variation, it changes the whole tempo of the game. I think spinners can play a very effective role out here if their skill sets suit.”
England will take into account a number of variables, including the fact that visiting spinners have frequently failed in Australia: since Lyon’s debut, foreign spinners have averaged 62.09 vs Lyon’s 31.08. But in 2010–11, when England last triumphed in Australia, Graeme Swann was a key player in a four-man attack.
“I grew up here. I understand and built my craft around playing on wickets that don’t spin,” Lyon said. “So, I’ve had to find a way to firstly survive but also create chances and build pressure along the way, and it’s something that I thoroughly enjoy doing, and I’ll keep doing that.”
Lyon’s current circumstances are somewhat complicated, though, given they were excluded from Australia’s most recent Test match in Jamaica after they decided to use a pink Dukes ball and an all-pace assault. Lyon’s replacement, Scott Boland, took a hat-trick as they defeated the West Indies for 27 to end the match.
The selectors have already stated that such a scenario is extremely unlikely to occur in Australia, and although Lyon admits the outcome justified the move, he was adamant he could have contributed.
“Disappointed that I wasn’t a part of that, but I understood the reasons behind it and at the end of the day, you look at it now, it’s a pretty good call and brave call,” Lyon said. “But if I’m going to miss a Test for anyone, it’s going to be Scott Boland, that’s for sure. I’m only disappointed because I believe my skill set can play a role in any conditions around the world and I kind of feel like I’ve proven that to be effective.”
Being named as Jack Edwards’ understudy while the all-rounder is with Australia A in India, Lyon will start his Ashes preparations by captaining New South Wales for the first time against Western Australia in Perth. Lyon currently has 562 Test wickets, one more than Glenn McGrath, who holds the second-highest total for Australia. Lyon anticipates making three Shield outings prior to the opening Test.
It will only be Lyon’s second first-class appearance; he has already captained a Prime Minister’s XI against England in 2018 and once in the Sheffield Shield for South Australia in 2012.
“It’s a massive honour to captain the state that you were born in and obviously dreamt of playing cricket for,” he said. “So to get that call the other day was pretty humbling. I’ve never had any ambitions to captain any teams, especially professional teams. But Greg Mail [NSW chief performance officer] has come up to me and asked me whether I’d do it, and that he wanted me to do it… so it’s a short stint but I’m pretty happy with that.”