Cricket Australia cuts Lyon's county stint short, Head and Cummins star as IPL records tumble

Nathan Lyon’s spell with English county Lancashire has been halved as Cricket Australia looks to protect the fitness of the star spinner.

The Australian, who has taken 530 Test wickets, was due to be available for the full 14-match 2024 season with Lancashire, but he will now be free for seven of the first nine rounds of the Championship.

It’s a sensible precaution for Australia, who have five home Tests against India starting in November.

But Lancashire’s director of cricket performance, Mark Chilton, said: “Naturally, we are disappointed that Nathan will no longer be joining us for the full 2024 season. 

“However, we are still incredibly excited to be able to welcome him for seven matches in the County Championship.”

Lyon will arrive at Old Trafford ahead of the season opener against Surrey, on Friday, April 5. He will remain with the Red Rose until Wednesday, July 3.

Lyon now ranks as the seventh highest Test wicket taker of all time and his capture is a coup for Lancashire.

Chilton added: “After speaking with Nathan since this decision was taken, I know that he is still really excited about joining up with us.”

The county say they are “assessing options” for an extra overseas player, for the white-ball games in particular.

Meanwhile, records tumbled in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Indian Premier League victory over Mumbai Indians, which set a new mark for the highest-scoring T20 match in history.

The hosts set a new IPL record of 3 for 277, but Mumbai put up a fierce fight in their chase before ending up 31 runs short on 5 for 246.

It was little consolation but they contributed to a new record aggregate of 523 runs, surpassing the 517 set by South Africa and the West Indies a year and a day ago.

The match finished with 38 sixes, another record for the most hit in a T20 game.

Aussie opener Travis Head gave Sunrisers an explosive start with 62 from 24 balls and Abhishek Sharma contributed 63 off 23, but  South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen was the star turn, smashing 80 not out off 34, including seven sixes and four fours.

Aiden Markram made an unbeaten 42, with a strike rate of 150, as Sunrisers surpassed the previous IPL best of 5 for 263, set by Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013.

Mumbai set off at a tremendous pace, thrashing 56 runs off the first 19 balls.

They kept pace for a long time – reaching 150 in the 10th over – but all five batters were caught as they tried in vain to match the huge asking rate.

Pat Cummins, the Sunrisers captain, took the key wicket of opener Rohit Sharma (26 off 12 balls) and later Tilak Varma (64 off 34).

Varma’s wicket effectively ended the chase as it left Mumbai 4 for 182 in the 15th over.