The perfect script for the cult of Garry

Shane Warne’s scriptwriter used to provide almost unbelievable scenes.

In the years after his retirement, there were nasty withdrawal symptoms as Australia gradually, and painfully, became familiar with what they could expect from a normal spinner.

Eventually, Australia settled on Nathan “Garry” Lyon.

The cult of Garry took some time to develop. He was Garry and then the GOAT before he was “Nice Garry”.

This came just when Lyon’s Test career was hovering on the edge. The Test selectors even admitted that it was Steve O’Keefe’s injury that saved Lyon for the Adelaide Test.

At Adelaide, Lyon was back with Matthew Wade, the wicket-keeper who struggled to take catches and stumpings off him earlier in his Test career.

Brad Haddin had reclaimed Wade’s Test spot in 2013, when Australia needed a better wicket-keeper and some extra leadership.

Even when Wade came back into the Test team this year, Peter Nevill was probably still the better wicket-keeper, even allowing for a dropped catch off Lyon in the Hobart Test.

One of the reasons Wade came back into the team was because of his chat behind the stumps.

Whether you rate the ability to incessantly natter away behind the stumps, it is undeniable that without Wade’s mouth, the cult of Garry would never have come into existence.

And the moment on first day at the MCG could not have happened.

There was a social media campaign for thousands of fans to yell, “nice Gary”, after Lyon’s third ball.

Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam had cautiously ensured that Pakistan had not lost a wicket before Lyon was brought into the attack. Steve Smith had to turn to his spinner early.

The stage was set, and the MCG is the biggest stage of all in Australian cricket.

Lyon has an interesting history at the MCG.

Against India in 2011, Lyon finished the match with the wicket of Umesh Yadav after Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus had taken the previous 19 wickets.

In 2012, Lyon’s sprint from point to the bowling crease was beaten by the procession of Sri Lankan batsmen to and from the pavilion, until Michael Clarke used him to wrap up the tail.

In 2013, Lyon brought up 100 Test wickets with his maiden Ashes five-wicket haul on a third day that turned the match back Australia’s way.

In 2014, he broke the Virat Kohli-Ajinkya Rahane partnership that threatened to take India past Australia’s first innings total of 530.

In 2015, he was one of the players who showed the vast distance between Australia and the West Indies as Test teams.

Not only is the MCG the biggest stage of all, it was the appropriate stage for the cult of Garry.

About 35,000 were in when Lyon came on to bowl the 12th over.

Sami Aslam got off strike first ball, but Azhar Ali’s single second ball allowed Lyon another go at the left-hander for the fateful third ball.

It was a quick off-break on an excellent length that bounced and left Sami nowhere to go. It caught his glove, and popped up for an easy catch for Steve Smith.

The MCG went off, and during the celebration it was hard to distinguish the “nice Gary”. But it wasn’t necessary.

Everyone knew that ball was nice.

Of course, Nathan Lyon is still a mortal. He still bowled short balls at times. And he still bowled too straight at others.

But on the day of the cult of Garry, those negatives didn’t seem important.

For once, someone else’s scriptwriter was as impressive as what Warne’s used to be.

When it comes much more rarely than during Warne’s time, it is easier to properly appreciate it.