Lyon passes on song duties but no end in sight of playing days

Nathan Lyon has handed over the role of leading the Australia victory song to Alex Carey but has no thoughts on winding down his Test career with ambitions to win series in India and England.

Lyon had been the song-master for longer than any other player - a tradition started with Rod Marsh - having been handed the duty by Mike Hussey in 2013 when he retired against Sri Lanka. Lyon was 18 Tests into his career. It briefly went to Carey during the 2023 Ashes when Lyon was injured, but Australia did not win a Test in the remainder of that series.

In the 119 Tests Lyon played as holder of the song - Under The Southern Cross I Stand - he registered 67 wins. Among the renditions he most remembers were the one the first Test after Phil Hughes' death in 2015, after beating India at Adelaide Oval, and when they won the Ashes 5-0 in 2013-14.

Lyon, though, hopes to add plenty more victories to that tally in the years to come with two marquee series in his sights.

"I've been very honoured to first lead the song, but to have it for 12, 13 years, it's been one of the biggest highlights of my career," Lyon said. "I've been thinking about it for a while now, but this definitely doesn't mean I'm retiring anytime soon. There's no talk about me retiring or even thoughts coming in my head.

"I've always said I want to win away in India, and I want to win away in England. Obviously, we've got that opportunity in a couple of years' time, but we've also got to take it Test by Test and make sure we're doing everything here and getting the games here in West Indies right. Then we've got a massive summer at home with the Ashes. But also, another World Test Championship final will be on my cards."

Lyon would have handed the song over to Carey at the World Test Championship final had Australia won, but South Africa's victory meant the baton passing waited until Barbados when he dropped a letter to Carey's room after the second day's play.

"It's more about the team environment and making sure that I get the opportunity to pass it on to someone who I look at and absolutely love and the way he goes about it on and off the field," he said. "I just feel like Alex is the perfect candidate. I feel like I ran my race with it and it's time for someone else to put their touch on it."

Such has been Lyon's longevity that he is one two survivors from Australia's 2012 visit to the Caribbean, alongside Mitchell Starc who could play his 100th Test in Jamaica. "There's been a lot of hard work that goes in behind the scenes that a lot of people don't see," he said. "But I was sitting on the balcony this morning thinking, s**t, I was here in 2012."

A byproduct of Lyon hoping to play for at least two more years, and potentially even more, is that he will likely surpass 600 Test wickets and could even challenge Shane Warne's iconic tally of 708. Lyon averages four wickets per Test and with 21 more to play in this embryonic WTC cycle, plus the 150th anniversary Test against England in March 2027, he could be nudging 650 by the time of the next away Ashes in 2027.

"Warney's a long way away," Lyon said. "And in my eyes, he's the greatest to ever play the game. I'm just lucky to be part of a pretty special cricket team at the moment. We're on our way to becoming a great cricket team, we not there [yet] as I always say. But to be part of this bowling attack and play my role is special. That's the reason why I keep playing."