Nathan Lyon is destined to become Australia’s most successful Test off-spinner in terms of career wickets.
While he has received a fair amount of criticism from the fans in his short career he is on track to eclipse those who have preceded him and write himself into the history books.
Traditionally Australia has not been a nation that has produced many long-term offies.
Down through the years our most successful slow bowlers have all been leg-spinners – Shane Warne (708 wickets), Richie Benaud (248), Clarrie Grimmett (216), Stuart MacGill (208) and Bill O’Reilly (144) all come ahead of the most successful off-spinner.
That man is Hugh Trumble, who plied his trade in 32 Tests between 1890 and 1904 for a total of 141 wickets at the remarkable average of 21.8.
Next best is Ashley Mallet whose 12-year career that ended in 1980 produced 132 wickets in 39 Tests at 29.8.
Lyon has just completed his 26th Test and in that time has claimed 89 scalps at 32.4.
To put Lyon’s career into a modern-day perspective, Tim May’s career lasted 24 Tests during which he claimed 75 wickets at 34.7.
When you consider where Lyon has come from there is abundant cause for hope in the years ahead.
Born in the New South Wales country town of Young, he spent time in Canberra as a curator before making the move to South Australia where he took up a position on the Adelaide Oval ground staff and played club cricket.
He was identified by Darren Berry, the coach of the Adelaide-based BBL franchise, the Strikers, as a player who could succeed at a higher level.
Berry’s assessment triggered one of the most meteoric rises through the ranks in Australian cricket.
In 2011, he moved from club cricketer to a BBL player, to a Sheffield Shield representative and on to a Test cap in under eight months – it was head-spinning stuff.
When he strode out at Galle to make his Test debut against Sri Lanka in August 2011 he had played only five first-class matches in which he had taken 14 wickets.
Undaunted by his inexperience at first-class level he claimed figures of 5-34 and 1-73 in his maiden Test.
Since his debut he has been in and out of the Test side regularly.
This year alone he has been omitted and recalled twice.
After playing the opening Test of the India series at Chennai in February he was dropped for the next match at Hyderabad with coach Mickey Arthur stating that he was down on confidence and had technical issues that needed to be addressed.
Lyon was quick to dismiss talk of both those suggestions.
Come the next Test at Mohali he was back in the side and at Delhi in the fourth and final Test of the series he claimed a career-best 7-94 in India’s first innings.
Yet, despite that performance, when Australia rolled out for the opening Ashes encounter at Trent Bridge in July he had been usurped by teenage left-arm finger-spinner Ashton Agar.
While Agar excelled with the bat he struggled to have an effect with the ball and Lyon was recalled for the third Test at Old Trafford.
It was then on to the return battle for the little urn and in the opening Test at the Gabba he bowled arguably as well as he ever has at Test level.
His first over at Brisbane produced more turn than his English counterpart Graeme Swann did for the match.
The fifth and sixth deliveries of his opening over in the tourist’s first innings drifted, spun sharply and extracted appreciable bounce as they fizzed past the outside edge of Michael Carberry’s probing blade.
He then proceeded to bowl an exemplary spell of 7-4-7-2, and was on a hat-trick at one stage with the wickets of Ian Bell and Matt Prior in consecutive deliveries.
Equally as important as his two strikes was the fact that he dried up one end which allowed Mitchell Johnson at the other to go hell for leather.
In the space of a handful of overs England lost 6-9, and with it, the prospect of taking a series lead to Adelaide.
There is no doubt that Lyon is maturing as a bowler with every outing and his future is extremely bright, given he made his Test debut at the age of 24 (he turned 26 just eight days ago), while Swann didn’t enter Test cricket until he was 28 and since then has captured 250 wickets in 58 Tests.
There has been criticism from some that he has failed to ‘get the job done’ for Australia in the fourth innings – most notably against South Africa at Adelaide last season where Faf du Plessis and co held out for a draw.
That deficiency will hopefully become less frequent as Lyon matures as a bowler.
Hopefully the selectors will now grant him a considerable unbroken run in the team which will allow him to further develop his game.
Australia has often brought undone touring off-spinners, some of them of the highest calibre.
World record wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan captured his Test wickets in this country at 75.4; Harbhajan Singh at 73.2; and Swann at 47.8.
For his part, Lyon’s 12 Tests on Australian soil have produced 40 wickets at 31.8.
Upon his retirement at the end of last summer, Mike Hussey passed on the honour of leading the team’s victory song to Lyon, citing that he was the right type of man to uphold the tradition given his work ethic and the pride he had in representing his country.
After nine Tests waiting for the opportunity to test out his vocal chords, Lyon finally got the opportunity last start at the Gabba.
Hopefully he will have more opportunities this season and beyond as he grows as both a bowler and song master.
Armchair Expert
Guest
Beer can't even get a game for WA, even with Agar's 50+ bowling average this year.
Bayman
Guest
James, I was one who was extremely disappointed in Lyon against South Africa in Adelaide last year. With runs to play with he tried to bowl as many balls as possible rather than as many good balls as possible. However, I might have expected his captain to have had a word and tell him it was quality that was needed, not quantity. In any case, experience may solve that problem. In Lyons defence he does have 89 Test wickets in 26 Tests which is not to be sneezed at. He also suffered more than most from having Wade behind the stumps. Indeed a missed stumping in Adelaide may well have led to an Australian victory rather than allowing the Seth Efricans to draw the match. Sometimes it's a fine line. As for his batting while it's not as solid as some, and considerably worse than most, he does have a Test 'top score for the innings' when he made 14 of Australia's 47 at Cape Town. How many can say they've top scored for Australia, from no. 11, in a Test match? The next best in that innings was Siddle with 12 and between them they took Australia from 9/21 (and possibly the lowest Test score ever) to that mighty 47. Obviously, the man just needs a crisis!
Bayman
Guest
jameswm, I agree with you that batting from 7 to 10 (or even 11) is becoming more important. It can be the difference between winning and losing. Without Haddin and Johnson at the Gabba who knows how that game may have turned out. A check of the Test scorecards over the last decade will show just how many times Australia's last five made our score competitive. And it's a lot! On Agar, my gut feeling is that if he returns to the Test team it will be as a top six batsman rather than a spin bowler. Right now his batting is by far his most developed skill. Let's not forget KP began life as a spinner (as indeed did one GS Sobers). PS Having seen Agar get 98 at Trent Bridge and 93 recently at Adelaide I really think this kid can bat - and I mean really bat!
sheek
Roar Guru
JGK, Yeah, I can see your dilemma, very difficult choice between Tayfield & Trumble. It's quite possible you made the right call. But it's one quandary I'm happy to leave to you for the moment! ;-)
sheek
Roar Guru
James - agreed. But Mallett was the best Aussie offie from 1968-present, & still the next best after Trumble. It's a sad indictment of Australian cricket we haven't produced anyone close to Trumble since.
Cleveland Steamer
Guest
Couldn't be worse than Nathan "the sixth sense boy" hautitz I guess
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I've said this before but it's worth repeating: Ajmal and Swann are the best spinners in Test cricket. Yet when that pair debuted at Test level they were 5 years and 3 and a half years older respectively than Lyon is right now.
James Rodda
Guest
Why is everyone now positive on Lyon? Because the team is winning and had a good test? He was dropped many times because no matter what stats say he isn't great, and can't bat to save himself. He gets recalled because we are perceived to have no one better. Not a great reason for recall. I think we need to keep standards high and drop him for someone like Beer if he isn't performing. The argument it hurts his confidence is soft. You don't perform you are out. Simple. The fact no one else has is not his credit it's his relative luck.
Nudge
Guest
Agree Tim
Armchair Expert
Guest
Yes Chris, even Warnie's shield bowling average was 34+ and Lyon's shield bowling average for SA was 53 and it's 35 for NSW, we'd be hard pressed to find any 1st class Australian spinner with at least 100 wickets with a bowling average under 26 in the last 50 years, apart from O'Keefe.
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
I used to be involved in a Sri Lanka online cricket publication, and the people there who saw Boyce bowl in SL when he went there a few years back lauded him. Not that i am any real judge, but i think he will be a very decent bowler in time
Tim Holt
Roar Guru
Agree Nudge, Smith is a fair way off test standard as a bowler, and in truth, for the betterment of the team, he needs to get his batting right, after making real improvement with it recently.
Deccas
Guest
I'd say with Faulkner is quite likely to play at number 6 or 7 for the Australian team for some time. That can give us 3 quicks and 2 spinners if those young fellas talent gets them to the test team. I'd be surprised if he played every test of every series but I reckon there would be a good chance he'd play a fair bit. Agar, Faulkner and Smith are on a collision course in the Australian lower middle order!
Vish
Guest
Lyon will succeed if he takes some time to bowl his overs . he s rushin too fast. needs to develop the quicker straighter one . doosra is not needed. jus d slider at gud pace. Ashwin has developed it and is pretty successful. both bell n prior n first innings were lucky wickets. but reward for some accurate tight bowlin prior. round d wicket wud like to see him pitch on off n turn in sharp. sessions with murali or saqlain or a visit to india to meet prasanna or venkatraghavan would b beneficial to lyon
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
His bowling hasn't come on probably because it's something that requires both a lot of practice and to bowl plenty in matches. When his main focus is as a middle order batsman then he has his focus on that and that's where his practice is mostly going to go. And as I said above, he rarely gets much chance to bowl in Shield games, for two reasons, one being NSW often picking two spinners anyway, and the other being that spinners are used less in the Shield. Now he's playing test cricket where they rarely pick a second spinner there is more chance of the captain wanting him to bowl, which may give him more incentive to practice it. But at the moment I think he's definitely putting most of his practice energy into batting.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Nah I think Lyon is a better bowler than SOK. SOK doesn't get much flight, drop or turn. He's accurate and smart. I don't think he'd be super-effective at test level. Still, he'd never let you down and leaves Doherty etc for dead. If we want a second spinner, it has to be a batsman who bowls pretty good spin. The top 2 candidates right now are Maxwell and Smith. Smith's bowling isn't good enough though, and neither Maxwell's batting nor bowling is good enough. However, I have not lost hope on him, as he's a fighter and an improver. If both bowl well enough (and ignoring Lyon you go with a team like this: 1. Warner 2. Silk 3. Watson/Doolan/Hughes 4. Clarke 5. Bailey/Maddinson etc 6. Smith 7. Maxwell 8. keeper 9. Faulkner 10. Pattinson 11. Another right armer - Bird, Cummins, Hazlewood etc. Still - you need both Maxwell and Smith to be legitimate test spinners - not front line ones, but good bowlers. Not part-timers like Clarke and Warner, but more like Jadeja I think it is, bats 6 and can bowl legitimate test spin. Bowlers the quality of Kallis and Watson. Look at the batting from 6-10. I know everyone says it's the job of the top 5/6 to score runs, but I think we're moving to a time where your batting from 7-10 is becoming more and more important. I should add we've got Agar too, who could become a legitimate test spinner, and is a good bat. I know - back to the point, I can't just ignore Lyon. He's our no.1 spinner for the foreseeable future now. But I still wouldn't play him in Perth - I'd go with 4 quicks.
Dylan Arvela
Roar Guru
I was one who thought earlier in his test career that he was too predicable and even though he lacks the arsenal of deliveries of the likes of Warne, he has the ability to play to his strengths which is not the case with many first class spin bowlers.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Mallett has the about the 5th best return of all aussie test time 8/59 vs the wonderful pakis who knew a thing or two about spin. He was no mug and struggled to get a twirl in the latter years with the rise of Lilllee, Thomson, Walker, Gilmour and comp from Jenner and O'Keefe. Lyon looks alright to me. Definately skilful and smart. Arthur was an absolute ning nong with him in India. Just wanted to play Maxi I reckon. Don't think he would have got 98 in England but that was strange as well and nary an Arthur in sight. At his age, he is going to clean up, with less fanfare than the rest of his team mates combined.
Nudge
Guest
The problem with smith, as soon as they attack him he completely loses his length, half trackers and full tosses at least once an over. When they aren't attacking him he's fine, like the 3 wickets he took in England, when England were playing for stumps
jameswm
Roar Guru
Sheek - Mallett wasn't that great. He was a solid test offie, but I don't think any more than that. Lyon has the potential to be better.