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How should Nathan Lyon fit into a 'horses for courses' selection strategy?

Roar Guru
25th October, 2016
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Nathan Lyon is unlikely to spin Australia to victory in India - thus, they are unlikely to win in India. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
Roar Guru
25th October, 2016
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1059 Reads

‘Horses for courses’ has been the catch-cry of the Australian selectors since the humiliating Test whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka.

Much of the focus has fallen on the shambolic batting efforts from that series, with many batsmen now having questions against their names for future Asian tours.

The irony within this is the skewing of reputations.

Two stand out in Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns, with their struggles in Sri Lanka curiously having questions raised about their places in the Australian team at home. This is despite the pair having a combined batting average of 113.07 with five centuries in their 15 home Tests.

Away from the batsmen, the poster child of this is Nathan Lyon.

Australia's spinner Nathan Lyon. AP Photo/Andres Leighton

After another tour of struggle and frustration in Asia, many are rethinking Lyon’s place in the line-up at home.

This is a farcical overreaction underlining the misunderstanding of Lyon as a player.

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The off-spinner is the quintessential co-star of the main cast.

When playing at home, or in other situations that suit, he is very able. He becomes free of the burden of having to lead an attack and is seen as a valuable contributor, who is not pivotal to the team’s success. He is deadly as a virtual auxiliary bowler who is facilitated by the pressure and duress imposed on batsmen by Australia’s excellent cast of fast bowlers.

In Asia, when expected to lead the attack, he is exposed as severely lacking. The key is the lack of craft, guile, and pragmatism in his bowling. He is so resistant and incapable of adapting to another style from the one that is so successful in Australia.

His relentless off-stump line with heavy overspin is ideally suited to Australian conditions where there is a predominant lack of spin, but useful bounce. In Asia, where the conditions are largely dead and often spinning, it renders him both ineffectual as well as expensive, as the ball is easy to sweep and he frequently drifts onto batsmen’s pads.

His subcontinent figures – averaging 42.57, with an economy rate of 3.67 – support this.

It was damning in the recent tour when the real acid came on him after the second Test. Rather than modify his style to better suit, instead, he resorted to firing in 95km/h darts to limit the scoring. It mostly achieved this end but in the process represented a white flag of surrender to the batsmen with his wicket-taking threat gone.

If selectors are steadfast in their new creed, the question needs to be asked if Lyon should be selected to tour Asia again, or saved for conditions better suited?

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The instant response is he must, due to being the best spinner in Australia with few other viable Test candidates. It’s a flawed mindset, buying into the hope that Lyon will finally figure it out, all the while conceding that he will more than likely remain an easily exploitable weakness.

A better ploy would be to rely more on the improving Aussie pacemen in Asian conditions supported by Steve O’Keefe’s left arm spin and the vastly underrated part-time leg spin of Steve Smith.

As for Lyon, spare him of further subcontinent torments, while having him first selected in situations that suit.

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