For the first time, someone has addressed this with a lot of clarity. Cricket Australia chief selector George Bailey has admitted that Nathan Lyon, who has 567 Test wickets to his name, is now prone to injuries, and nobody knows how long he can last in international cricket, and that the CA should be mentally prepared that the spinner may not be around for long.
Lyon is currently nursing a hamstring injury he picked up last year during the third Ashes Test. The offspinner, who once had the distinction of playing straight 100 Tests from 2013-2023, however, has been injury-hit since, but has done well on his returns. Bailey, a former Australian cricketer himself, has now pressed the panic button on the availability status of Lyon.
“It’s a pretty significant hamstring tendon injury to a 38-year-old, so there’s a sense of realism it may not ever get back to the upper echelon of where you need it to,” Bailey said.
“So what does that look like?
“It may mean there’s not necessarily the capacity to play big blocks of games, and you may have to look at that.
“It’s just being a little bit aware that’s a possibility.”
Too many Tests coming Australia’s way
Australia play loads of Tests from August. First, they host Bangladesh, and then from December to March, they play a whopping nine Tests, including five Tests against India in India.
Then, a few months later, the Ashes in England will kick off. With Lyon not giving a lot of confidence, one would think Bailey and the CA will now look to move on from him and expend their energies on someone like Todd Murphy, recently added to the central contracts list, but the chief selector has dismissed these suggestions.
For him, the best spinner available will play, and at the same time, there will be no attempt to manage Lyon’s workload — as of now. However, he said, “We’re just trying to maintain that connection, particularly with Todd. He was really close to playing in Sydney. We like the skill set that he brings.”
“India, we know we’re going to need the spin depth. England, we know we’re going to need some spin depth.
“Not entirely sure that’ll be applicable for South Africa (in October). And then the Top End (against Bangladesh) is probably a little bit of an unknown,” he added.
