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Nathan Lyon's second innings short-comings

Roar Rookie
9th January, 2013
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Roar Rookie
9th January, 2013
10

Nathan Lyon is a good solid performer for the Australian cricket team.

For the most part he is able to at least tie up an end for Michael Clarke, and seems good for a wicket or two while his ever-rotated pace counterparts do the majority of the damage up the other end,

However, wouldn’t it be nice for ‘Pup’ to be able to throw Lyon the ball 25 overs into the second innings and have the belief that the teams tweaker will do the job that he is in the team to do – take four, five or six second innings wickets?

In only four Tests has Lyon taken more wickets in the second innings than in the first.

First innings wickets are of course invaluable, however on dry and deteriorating pitches, such as last week’s wicket at the SCG, Australia needs Lyon to take much more than his 1-66 at the expense of over four an over.

Nathan Lyon seems far and away Australia’s best slow bowling option but he may never be a match winner.

He needs to evolve into the go-to man for the second innings of Test matches. Australia can only rely on lion-hearted efforts from Peter Siddle for so long.

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