Lyon wants 'a spinner in every side' in Tests in Australia

Nathan Lyon has endorsed the value of always playing a spinner in Australian conditions amid a growing sense that England may opt to go without a frontline option at stages during the upcoming Ashes.

While it falls into the category of unsurprising assessments from Lyon, as he himself remarked, it will nevertheless provide one of the interesting dynamics in the build-up to the first Test next month when England ponder the balance of their side having selected allrounder Will Jacks, who last played Test cricket in 2022, as the back-up to offspinner Shoaib Bashir.

"You're asking the spinner if they want to pick a spinner," Lyon said with a smile. "For me, yeah, you're picking a spinner in every side. Variation, it changes the whole tempo of the game. I think spinners can play a very effective role out here if their skill sets suit."

One of the factors England will be considering is how visiting spinners have so often struggled in Australia: since Lyon's debut, those from overseas have averaged 62.09 compared to Lyon's 31.08. However, the last time England were successful down under, in 2010-11, Graeme Swann played a vital role in a four-man attack

"I grew up here. I understand and built my craft around playing on wickets that don't spin," Lyon said. "So, I've had to find a way to firstly survive but also create chances and build pressure along the way, and it's something that I thoroughly enjoy doing, and I'll keep doing that."

There is a little twist to Lyon's current situation, though, in that he was left out of Australia's most recent Test in Jamaica when they opted for an all-pace attack in the day-night encounter with a pink Dukes ball. They finished the game by skittling West Indies for 27 with Lyon's replacement, Scott Boland, taking a hat-trick.

It is a scenario highly unlikely to play out in Australia, as the selectors have already indicated, and while Lyon acknowledges the end result justified the move, he was adamant he could have played a role.

"Disappointed that I wasn't a part of that, but I understood the reasons behind it and at the end of the day, you look at it now, it's a pretty good call and brave call," Lyon said. "But if I'm going to miss a Test for anyone, it's going to be Scott Boland, that's for sure. I'm only disappointed because I believe my skill set can play a role in any conditions around the world and I kind of feel like I've proven that to be effective."

Lyon, who sits on 562 Test wickets, one short of equaling Glenn McGrath's haul as the second-most for Australia, will begin his Ashes preparations by captaining New South Wales for the first time against Western Australia in Perth having been named as Jack Edwards' understudy while the allrounder is with Australia A in India. It is one of three Shield appearances Lyon expects to make before the first Test.

It will be just the second first-class match Lyon has ever captained in, having previously done it once in the Sheffield Shield for South Australia in 2012, while he also captained a Prime Minister's XI against England in 2018.

"It's a massive honour to captain the state that you were born in and obviously dreamt of playing cricket for," he said. "So to get that call the other day was pretty humbling. I've never had any ambitions to captain any teams, especially professional teams. But Greg Mail [NSW chief performance officer] has come up to me and asked me whether I'd do it, and that he wanted me to do it… so it's a short stint but I'm pretty happy with that."

Alongside Edwards, New South Wales are missing six other potential Shield players between Australia's T20I side in New Zealand and the A team in India, but the side to face Western Australia will include Sam Konstas as he heads into a vital month in his bid to retain a place in the Test side.

Konstas enters the season having scored 188 runs in the two four-day Australia A matches, including a century, but the selectors have long stated that it will be the first three Shield matches that prove key to their decisions.

When Lyon was asked what he expected of Konstas over the next few weeks, he said "runs", but also stressed that he was a player still developing his game.

"Obviously he had a pretty successful tour over there [in India], but it's great to have him back on the Shield side," Lyon said. "He's learning the craft, as we're all learning. Some of us are a lot further on in our journey as professional cricketers, but they're learning their craft. Not just him, but everyone around Australia. They've got to learn their style and be brave enough to back that and have faith in it."