Birthday Special: Nathan Lyon – Australia’s greatest modern-day spinner
10-20 years ago, when one would say Australia, legendary names like Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne, etc. come to mind. But no one would speak of a talented off-spinner in the country as there was a dearth of it. However, by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, a player named Nathan Lyon started emerging.
Lyon was a curator who had just moved from Canberra to Adelaide and this is when his life changed for good. In 2010, Lyon had taken up a job as the Adelaide Oval ground staff, and the Redbacks Big Bash coach Darren Berry spotted the bowling talent in him. He made his T20 debut in January 2011 for South Australia then and within seven months, he was playing Test cricket for his country. And as they say, rest is history!
The perfect spinner
Ever since his Test debut, Lyon has played 96 matches in the format and more importantly, has solved Australia’s spin problems. They were struggling immensely to find an able replacement for Shane Warne and though Lyon wasn’t a leg-spinner, a one of a kind off-spinner in the country left many stunned.
Lyon has won Australia many matches on dead pitches in a country that is known to assist the seamers due to its pace and bounce. But the off-spinner turned the bounce on the pitches to his advantage and has run through the opposition line-ups plenty of times. Interestingly, he is also termed as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in Australian cricket due to his exploits in whites.
A Test legend
In 96 Tests that he has played so far, Lyon has picked 390 wickets with 18 five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket match hauls. Having said that, the off-spinner has been unable to make the same kind of impact in the shorter format of the game featuring only in 29 ODIs and 2 T20Is.
Despite multiple attempts, the 33-year-old hasn’t struck gold with his spin bowling picking only 29 ODI wickets and a solitary T20I wicket. As he enters into the new year of his life, Lyon will be hoping to improve his numbers in the limited-overs format, having already achieved legendary status in Tests. Lyon will also complete 100 Tests in the upcoming series against India and the man would love to make it a memorable series.
