Published: Aug 10, 2013, 01:32 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 25, 2014, 12:41 AM (IST)
Nathan Lyon (second from right) recorded figures of four for 42 on Day One of the fourth Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street © Getty Images
By Sarang Bhalerao
On Friday, Nathan Lyon was not bowling on a dust bowl like he did a couple of Test matches ago in Delhi where he picked up nine Indian wickets. A couple of Tests back he was not the first choice spinner for Australia. The cricketing fraternity reckoned the 19-year-old Ashton Agar as the next big thing in Australian cricket. But Lyon patiently waited and he came back in the Australian team as a much improved bowler.
On the first day of the fourth Test, bowling round the wicket, Lyon kept the batsmen guessing — with the one that turns and the other ball being a natural variation that went straight on after pitching — no doosra mind you. His first victim was Jonathan Trott who tried to work the ball behind square-leg for his fiftieth run but instead got a thick inside-edge and was caught at forward short-leg by Usman Khawaja. His second victim was Kevin Pietersen — a special victim considering the fact that Lyon had a moral victory against him at Old Trafford in a compelling battle. Pietersen, the feisty character, took Lyon on and bowled him out of the attack on a spinning wicket in Manchester. In Durham, Lyon had the last laugh as he found KP’s edge with the one which held its line after pitching, thus bamboozling the English No 4.
In the fourth Test against India, Lyon’s line of attack was similar, but there he brought in play the men behind the wicket. The leg-slip was pivotal for him. The leg-before was brought in the equation as his line of attack was middle-and-leg with the occasional ball going in with the arm. Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed leg-before a couple of times while Virat Kohli was bamboozled by his variations and, in the end, missed a straight ball. Lyon applied relentless pressure on the English batsmen who looked like breaking the shackles but just couldn’t. Ian Bell danced down the track in the first over after tea and was out caught at mid-off. There was nothing special in the delivery but it just highlights the fact that how England were a tad frustrated with Lyon’s line of attack. Jonny Bairstow’s painstaking 14 was ended when he tried to slog-sweep Lyon to break the shackles. The battle of patience is enduring and Lyon forced the English batsmen into making mistakes. He didn’t bowl a single delivery that could be categorised as an unplayable ball. But what was impressive was the fact that he kept coming at the batsmen ball after ball, seldom giving scoring opportunities.
In hindsight, Australia might have missed a trick by excluding Lyon in the first couple of Test matches. But as they say it is never too late. His figures of four for 42 on a first day track highlight Lyon’s maturity as a Test bowler. It is an interesting observation that at the peak of their prowess, off-spinners Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and Saeed Ajmal have used the round-the-wicket strategy as an attacking option. Lyon is doing just the same. He still has a lot to do in order to be termed as a match winner. But what was impressive to see was that Lyon has a big heart of a spinner. He is not afraid to toss the ball. At Old Trafford he was taken to the cleaners but at Chester-le-Street the policy reaped rich benefits for him. This bodes well for the visitors who desperately want to make a comeback in the Ashes.
(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)
