Nathan Lyon, the GOAT – as he is fondly called in Australia – is indeed the greatest off-spinner that Australia have ever produced. The off-spinner with the second-highest Test wickets for Australia is Hugh Trumble, who took 142 wickets. With 416 Test wickets in 106 Test matches, Lyon is Australia’s third-highest wicket-taker of all time, behind only legendary Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
Lyon, who was a groundsman at the Adelaide Oval in South Australia, started his Test career with a wicket off the first ball that he bowled in Test cricket. Since then, he’s taken the most wickets for Australia, with Mitchell Starc next in the list with 274 wickets. Since Lyon made his Test debut, only one bowler has taken more Test wickets than him – Ravichandran Ashwin, an off-spinner himself, has 436 wickets to his name.
However, Lyon’s performances have been under the scanner in recent times. Lyon had his most prolific year in 2017, where he took 63 wickets at 23.55, striking every 52.2 balls, including five 5-wicket hauls. He has never taken 50 wickets in any other year, and only once had a better average and strike rate in a calendar year. 2017 was supposed to be the turning point in Lyon’s career, as it came after his worst year (2016) in terms of his bowling average – 41 wickets at 36.34. But since then, he hasn’t improved and has had mediocre performances in the following years.
Since January 2018, Lyon averages 33.78 runs per wicket with a strike rate of 74.17 – 1.5 runs and 8.97 balls more than his career record. Against New Zealand at Sydney in 2020, Lyon was roaring, picking up figures of 10/118 in 279-run thrashing of the Kiwis. If this one performance is taken out from his stats, Lyon averages 35.61 and strikes at 77.98 since 2018. These aren’t inspiring returns from Australia’s top spinner.
There were several occasions where Australia were relying on Lyon to close out a Test – Edgbaston 2019, Sydney 2021, Brisbane 2021 being the biggest let-downs. The conditions and situations were tailor-made for him as well, but Lyon failed to make a mark. Against India at home in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Lyon was out-bowled by India’s Ashwin. Ashwin took 12 wickets at 28.83 (SR: 67), whereas Lyon only picked up six wickets at double the average of Ashwin (57.66), taking almost twice the number of balls per wicket (SR:128).
Coming to Pakistan, Australia would have hoped for Lyon to lead the attack against an on-paper weaker opponent, but despite one of the flattest pitches in recent times, Lyon’s returns were a serious concern for Australia. With figures of 1-236 across two innings, Lyon looked ordinary in the Test match. Despite getting significant turn on occasion and bowling at a slower than usual pace, Lyon was inconsistent in his line and length. This was evident from the fact that Lyon only managed to bowl five maidens in his 52 first-innings overs, going at 3.09 RPO when the innings’ run rate was 2.93.
One common observation from all these disappointing returns was that Lyon was no longer bowling to his strengths. Rather than staying patient and bowling outside the line of off stump – something that was a common sight a few years ago – Lyon started searching for wickets by bowling straighter onto the stumps. This restricted him in keeping both the edges of the bat in play. In search of more wickets, Lyon has drifted away from a ploy that brought him all these wickets throughout his career.
For Australia to come out victorious against Pakistan, Lyon will have to quickly summon his best else he’ll find it tough to remain a constant figure in the Australian bowling attack, something that he’s not been accustomed to since over a decade.