Nathan Lyon sounded relaxed rather than defiant on Monday as he edged towards a return for the third Ashes Test in Adelaide. The 38-year-old off-spinner trained fully, bowled plenty, and looked – to anyone watching – like a man who will reclaim his place when the teams are confirmed on Wednesday.
Pat Cummins did little more than a gentle warm-up, but the captain is also expected to play. Steven Smith missed the session with a bug yet, according to team staff, should be back in the nets on Tuesday. In short, Australia hope to field something close to their preferred XI, and that now appears to include Lyon again.
He may have 140 caps and 562 Test wickets, but recent omissions show his name is no longer inked on the team sheet. The selectors sat him out of the last two pink-ball Tests and have bowled him for only eight overs across the previous two red-ball matches on home soil. Their reasoning has been “conditions based”, yet for Lyon the experience still stings.
“I’ve played 140 Test matches, I feel like I don’t have a point to prove to anyone,” Lyon said. “I’m very clear on my role within this Australian cricket team. I love playing with everyone in that change room, and love representing Australia. So if I get that opportunity again, I’ll keep doing that. My dream is to continue to play cricket for Australia. And no one’s got a given right to be selected. You’ve got to work your backside off to make sure that you put your hand up for selection and you earn that right.”
A return at Adelaide Oval, the ground he repeatedly calls his favourite, would be fitting. He has 63 wickets there at an average fractionally over 25, including four five-fors, though the last of those came back in 2019. Since then his impact in South Australia has faded, partly because circumstances have denied him long spells: one over against India last summer, only 15.3 overs in a truncated red-ball match early in 2024, and limited usage during the 2022 day-night fixture.
Even so, the pink ball itself no longer bothers him. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to get my teeth into this Test series yet, but that opportunity will hopefully come soon,” he remarked. “I’m expecting [England’s batters] to take me on.”
How England choose to tackle him is unclear. With Bazball comes the temptation to attack, yet their approach during the opening two Tests – he bowled just two overs in Perth – offers little evidence either way. Former Australia spinner Kristen Beams thinks Lyon’s class remains undiminished. “He still provides overs of control that allow Cummins to rotate the quicks. On day four and five he’s the guy you want holding an end,” she said. Others, including ex-captain Michael Clarke, argue that variety through a second specialist spinner should not be ruled out in Adelaide if the surface looks dry.
Statistically, Lyon is two wickets shy of overtaking Glenn McGrath (563) to move into outright second on Australia’s all-time Test list. He prefers not to dwell on it but conceded privately to team-mates that the wait – five months and three Tests since his last victim – has felt longer than it should.
Conditions might help. Early forecasts suggest typical Adelaide dryness, plus high 30-degree heat across the weekend. That usually means rough patches for spinners by the second innings, although the day-night element can soften the surface slightly and tempt captains to lean on seamers under the lights.
Selection meetings remain. Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cummins look locked in if fit; Scott Boland’s record at Adelaide (and economy) keeps him in the conversation; Cameron Green’s pace offers balance; and Lyon’s case is being made loudly by, well, Lyon himself – with words, plus the small matter of 140 Tests’ worth of experience. If picked, he insists motivation will not be an issue.
In the end, the veteran’s message had a dual purpose: he respects the process, yet he still backs his craft. The next chance to show it may arrive on Thursday evening, pink ball in hand, shadows lengthening across his favourite outfield. Two more wickets, and the name Nathan Lyon nudges past McGrath on that prestigious list – a reminder that, however the line-up fluctuates, the old offie is seldom far away.
