Two for 103 – they are unflattering figures. Yet Nathan Lyon, for the first time in a long time, was clearly Australia’s best bowler across a full day’s play in the first Test against India in Adelaide yesterday.
Met with firm resistance and a generous helping of brilliance from India’s batsmen, Australia’s much-vaunted attack laboured.
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Apart, that is, from the hitherto out-of-form off spinner. On a day when Mitch Johnson lacked his trademark hostility, Ryan Harris appeared rusty after a long injury layoff, and Peter Siddle continued his sequence of innocuous showings, Lyon was the only bowler to pose a constant threat.
He entered the series with his place in the side seemingly under threat due to poor returns this year and a belated acknowledgment from the selectors of the talents of his NSW teammate Steve O’Keefe.
As I wrote for The Roar last week, perhaps it was only his good record in home conditions that saved him from being replaced by another spinner at Adelaide.
Over his previous nine Tests, Lyon had snared just 26 wickets at the lofty average of 47. During Australia’s recent obliteration by Pakistan in the UAE, he was treated with disdain by the opposition batsmen, while the Pakistani spinners ran amok.
In that series, Lyon’s most glaring problem was his inability to settle into a consistent length. This was not all his own fault – the Pakistani batsmen were masterful in their manipulation of the 27-year-old Australian.
They never gave him the chance to settle into a rhythm, continually forcing him to readjust his length by coming down the wicket and also by using the sweep, a shot which when deployed properly can create migraines for any spinner.
When Lyon tried to adopt a full length they either advanced and met the ball, or got down on one knee to milk a single or swat him to the boundary.
This prompted Lyon to employ a shorter length which allowed his opponents to play him comfortably off the back foot. The Pakistani batsmen thus had ample time to adjust to the variations in spin and bounce spinners typically earn on Asian decks.
By comparison, only David Warner and Steve Smith placed such pressure on the Pakistani spinners. The remaining Aussies all too often played from the crease and were eventually undone by the aforementioned variation.
Yesterday, Lyon cannily exploited similar variable turn and bounce offered by an unusually parched day three Adelaide pitch. Directing many of his deliveries into the dark rough patches outside the right handers’ off stump, he achieved sometime extravagant bounce and grip.
Operating with the kind of tantalising loop and drop which has marked his best efforts at Test level, but which had recently been absent, he flummoxed the Indian batsmen.
Sweep shots were thin on the ground and when his opponents skipped down the wicket they often did so with trepidation due to the deceptive arc he was achieving.
His dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane was spectacular, a hard-spun off break leaping from the surface and catching the batsmen’s glove.
But the narrative of Lyon’s day was best illustrated by his undoing of Cheteshwar Pujara, who had glided gracefully to 73 and was threatening to compile a mammoth score.
Lyon trapped Pujara at his end and directed at him a succession of curving, dipping and ripping deliveries. The sharp turn he was achieving made Pujara reticent to drive him through the offside and forced him to play with a stronger bottom hand.
After several deliveries exploded from the deck and caught Pujara either on the splice or glove, the Indian decided to be proactive. He twice tried to advance to Lyon but on both occasions was done in the flight.
After the second of those attempts, he stayed glued to the crease and the next ball received another vicious off break.
Pujara greeted the ball with a tentative defensive stroke which he edged down between his legs and on to the stumps. The dismissal was extremely significant given that it was borne not just of skill but of wit. Lyon’s defeat of the classical batsman could scarcely have been more comprehensive.
His performance yesterday was all the more remarkable given that it came after he was dismantled in his first spell of the day. In those five overs he went for 34, with Indian opener Murali Vijay twice depositing him into the Adelaide crowd.
Yet he did not allow himself to panic or become deflated. He stuck to his over the wicket line to right handers, which represented a change of strategy after having favoured bowling around the wicket during the past 18 months.
Lyon’s performance clearly earned the respect of the Indian batsmen. It also prompted strong praise from the likes of legendary former Australian players Stuart MacGill and Jason Gillespie, who said it was the best bowling they had witnessed from the tweaker.
Lyon’s success bucked the trend of spinners largely being flayed at Adelaide Oval in recent years. Statistics show that over the past five years, spinners had averaged 60 at Adelaide compared to just 34 for the fast men.
Despite Adelaide’s reputation as a pitch on which spin plays a crucial role, that average of 60 was far higher than the mark for tweakers at any other Australian Test venue during that period.
If Australia are to force a positive result in this match, it is Lyon and not their feared pace battery who likely will have to lead the charge. He now looks well prepared for such a task.
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