Cricket News: Nathan Lyon, an all-time great, is reasserting his value to Cricket Australia
When West Indies were bundled out for 214 in the first innings of the second Test against Australia, having been asked to claw back a total of 511-7 declared, two things took center stage for the Aussies.
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk Nathan Lyon is Australia’s most dependable spin option.The first was their ability to effect good run-outs – even if the West Indies batters made it easy by committing one brain fade after another.
The second was the unfailing effectiveness of one Nathan Lyon, the man nicknamed ‘Garry’ and ‘GOAT’ by his teammates.
Lyon has been arguably one of Australia’s most underrated Test cricketers of the past decade, which is, in many ways, an unusual thing to say about a player with over 400 Test wickets to his name.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has completed 450 Test wickets. He had recently surpassed R Ashwin (442) in the list. 👏<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NathanLyon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NathanLyon</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Australia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Australia</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TestCricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TestCricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/BXnphtQC9p">pic.twitter.com/BXnphtQC9p</a></p>— Cricket.com (@weRcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/weRcricket/status/1601864374917939200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
But it is accurate, and there are several reasons for this. The first is his format exposure or lack of it; he remains a Test-only player in an era of T20 cricket and franchise leagues.
It is ironic in some ways, given he first made a name for himself in domestic cricket as an attacking wicket-taking option in – of all places – T20 cricket.
Yet his somewhat limited batting ability – he’s a stubborn blocker rather than a stroke maker player lower down the order – means the selectors don’t consider him for white-ball cricket.
There’s also the fact that, in modern white ball cricket, wrist spinners are often seen as the de-facto attacking wicket-takers for teams.
Most off-spinners either contain options or are all-rounders to justify their selection in the XI.
Lyon has occasionally played white-ball cricket for Australia, but his main area of focus is Tests – but that isn’t bad.
On the contrary, Lyon has been Australia’s most dependable spin option in the team since the late great Shane Warne.
Post-Warnie, the team had churned through several spin options in the Test team – including a particular fellow named Steve Smith, who only ended up becoming their best batsman of this generation.
But Lyon was the only one who stuck. And he did so by adhering to the traditional way of doing things in Tests – as an off-spinner, he looked to bowl attacking lines, flight the ball often and get as many revs on the ball as possible.
His effective but simple manner of bowling brought him wickets by the bag load in the red-ball format, and he is statistically Australia’s best off-spinner of all time.
His showing at Adelaide also saw him become the most successful bowler at the Adelaide Oval – he’s now taken 57 wickets at the ground, one more than Warne.
When most cricketers are looking to focus on white ball cricket to increase their riches and limit their playing time, it is certainly refreshing to see someone like Lyon.
Given he’s 35, it would make sense to enjoy ‘Garry’ for as long as possible because it doesn’t seem likely he will be around in the game for too long.
But he’s already a living legend of the game – and will be one even if he retires tomorrow.