Nathan Lyon has missed a Test through selection for the first time since 2013, with Australia opting for four quicks in the day-night finale against West Indies at Sabina Park. Selector Tony Dodemaide insisted the decision was driven by what he repeatedly labelled “exceptional circumstances” rather than form.
Key facts first
• Lyon is fully fit but overlooked; last sat out a Test voluntarily in 2013.
• The match is Australia’s first pink-ball Test in the Caribbean, using a Dukes rather than Kookaburra ball.
• Mitchell Starc plays his 100th Test without his long-time spin partner alongside him.
• All-pace attack last deployed by Australia in England, 2023, though not with four frontline quicks since 2012.
Why four seamers?
Dodemaide explained that data on the pink Dukes and observations from training suggested minimal spin involvement once dusk arrived.
“It’s something that wasn’t front of mind, certainly a difficult [decision], but we thought the exceptional circumstances justified having the four quicks so that we could rotate those guys and keep the pressure on,” he said. “On a well-grassed surface and a hard surface with lots of night-time play hours, that was the best way to win the game.”
The panel also revisited the 2018 Barbados pink-ball Test, where spinners barely featured, and noted rapid sunset times in Kingston.
Conditions, not the bowler
“But the key in here is it’s a conditions-based decision to go with the four quicks,” Dodemaide continued. “What we found here with the limited data that we have on particularly the pink Dukes ball… [is] that it actually behaves a little differently to the Kookaburra one. It doesn’t go as soft.”
He expanded on how the Dukes keeps its shape for longer, maintaining movement under lights: “The Kookaburra one tends to have a trough when it doesn’t move so much in those middle overs. That’s not the case with the Dukes one, the history tells us that, and that’s been our live experience when we’ve been here for the past couple of days… We’ve seen out here in practice the last couple of days that the ball does, big ball does a lot and it’s very difficult for the batters.”
Impact on Lyon
Lyon took six wickets in Grenada last week, sitting one shy of Glenn McGrath’s 563 for second on Australia’s all-time list. Understandably, being benched stings.
“They’re great mates,” Dodemaide said of Lyon and Starc. “He’s disappointed because he wants to play every game. He’s a great competitor and he believes he can be effective in any conditions. But he’s a team man as well and understands the right thing for the team and he’ll do his best to support the guys. But it’s a one-off. It’s no reflection on performance for Nathan. It’s simply the best way we think we can win this game.”
Tactical upside
Travelling with four specialist fast bowlers plus all-rounder Cameron Green gives captain Pat Cummins the option to rotate each seamer in short, hostile bursts — a ploy that should preserve freshness across the twilight sessions, when the ball is expected to talk. Mitchell Marsh’s medium pace offers emergency cover.
Opposition view
West Indies, reading the same surface differently, reinstated left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican for seamer Anderson Phillip. Their management believe the pitch will slow as the Test wears on. The contrasting approaches add intrigue to a series finale that is level at 1-1.
Looking ahead
If the surface does take turn late in the game, Australia may need part-timers Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne to fill Lyon’s usual holding role. That carries risk, though the selectors argue the pink ball’s durability should prevent the match drifting into a long fourth-innings grind.
Either way, Lyon’s absence is unlikely to be a trend. Australia’s next Tests are in home conditions where the off-spinner’s record — 246 wickets at 29.03 — makes him one of the first picked. For now, he wears the substitute bib, a reminder that even a modern great can be sidelined when conditions swing against him.
