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Lyon's golden chance to push ODI case

Nathan Lyon has a chance to stake a claim for regular ODI selection. (AFP / Jekesai Nijikizana)
Expert
7th June, 2016
10

It had been 20 months and some 35 matches since the last time Australia fielded two specialist spinners in an ODI.

But the manner in which Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa ran amok against the West Indies on Sunday might, just might, embolden the Australian selectors to more often place trust in their slow men.

Lyon and Zampa combined to take 6-65, while all-rounder Glenn Maxwell chipped in with 1-3 from his off spin. For the first time in a long, long time in limited-overs cricket, it was Australia’s slow bowlers who were front and centre.

Australia have had an enviable production line of pace bowlers in the modern era. So strong have their stocks been that when they won the 2015 World Cup, they did so while choosing to leave Ryan Harris on the sidelines.

The second-best bowler in Test cricket at the time, behind only Dale Steyn, and the owner of an incredible ODI record of 44 wickets at 19, Harris would have walked into any other side in the world.

Yet this embarrassment of pace riches seemed to blind Australia to the value of spinners.

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As I wrote recently, the Australian selectors’ lack of respect for tweakers has held them back in T20 cricket, which is by far their weakest format.

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Australia are the number one Test team and, by some margin, also the best ODI side in the world. Meanwhile, their T20 performances have been embarrassing, and a large part of the problem has been the under-utilisation of spinners.

The slow men look set to continue to have a major role in the current tri-series in the Caribbean. Lyon and Zampa will be hoping they can show the selectors why they should have more faith in spinners in the shortest formats.

Since making his international debut in February, Zampa’s stocks have risen like a rocket. Across his nine limited-overs matches for Australia he has looked calm and in complete control, taking 11 wickets at an average of 22.

Lobbed into the foreign conditions of the Indian Premier League he dazzled, grabbing 12 wickets at nine from five matches. He is Australia’s most exciting limited-overs spin prospect since Shane Warne played his last ODI in 2005.

Where Zampa has a bulging bag of tricks, Lyon’s strength is his steadiness.

Despite his increasing success in Tests, the 28-year-old has not been able to convince the selectors to give him a proper run in coloured clothing.

Five years after he debuted in Test cricket, Lyon has bowled a total of six deliveries in T20 Internationals. In his 11 ODIs, he has taken 15 wickets at 33. It remains to be seen whether Lyon has sufficient variety to flourish in the cutthroat environment of T20Is. He does, however, look suited to ODI cricket, seemingly equipped to keeping batsmen quiet and making breakthroughs in the 10-40 over period of matches.

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So much has Zampa impressed though, that Lyon may well find himself in the wrist spinner’s wake for the rest of his career in the shorter formats.

Lyon’s tantalising loop, deceptive drift and sharp bounce against the Windies are just what has turned him into such a fine Test spinner. Unlike T20, in which he will have to significantly remodel his approach, ODIs as they currently stand do not demand Lyon change much from his successful Test formula.

The selectors have long claimed that they did not want to select him in ODIs for fear it would hinder his Test bowling. Most Australian fans considered that to be a cover story for a lack of faith in his short-form bowling. Lyon has had very few opportunities to prove the selectors wrong – 12 limited overs matches in five years.

So parched are the pitches in the Caribbean however, that he may well play all of Australia’s remaining six matches in the tri-series. It looks set to be the best opportunity he has had in his career to push his limited-overs credentials.

Lyon has a rare chance to convince the selectors that he and Zampa can be a match-winning tweaking tag team.

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