Lyon: As soon as the ball spins there's more eyes on TVs

Damien Hough does not want to go down as the first curator in the storied history of the Adelaide Oval to create a Test pitch where a spinner is redundant, as Nathan Lyon emphasised the importance of the role in Australia despite only bowling two overs in the Ashes series to-date.

Lyon and Hough shared an embrace on Monday at Adelaide, a ground where they once worked together, and Hough attended a ceremony on the western side where Lyon was added to the Avenue of Honour that commemorates some of the best Test performances at the stadium.

Lyon was celebrated for his 12 wickets against India in 2014 at the venue, joining the likes of Sir Donald Bradman, Shane Warne and Mitchell Johnson among others on the outer wall of the Chappell Stand.

But it comes at a time when Lyon is stalled on 562 Test wickets, two shy of passing Glenn McGrath to go second all-time among Australia Test bowlers, having not been selected in two of the last three Tests and only bowled two overs in the game in between at the start of this Ashes series.

However, Hough is certain Adelaide Oval will spin this week as it has done in the three day Sheffield Shield games at the venue this season and Lyon is poised to return to Australia's XI despite England opting to retain part-time offspinner Will Jacks ahead of their No.1 spinner Shoaib Bashir.

"[Spin is] really important," Hough said on Monday. "I don't want to be the curator at Adelaide where you don't pick a spinner. Spin needs to play a part here. It always has. Even last year when [Lyon] didn't bowl a lot of overs, I felt that the pitch would have spun. But Pat [Cummins] was able to take wickets with the quicks but spin needs to play a part in pitches around Australia, and we want it to play a part."

Lyon only bowled one over in Australia's last Test in Adelaide, which was a pink-ball game against India in 2024. That is part of the reason why he has been left out of Australia's two most recent pink-ball Tests with Australia's selectors concluding that spin is not needed in day-night games.

But Lyon has also only bowled eight overs in total in his last two red-ball Tests in Australia. He bowled just six overs in the SCG Test against India in January and only two in the first Ashes Test in Perth. He was asked how important it is that curators continue to produce pitches in Australia that do allow spinners to play a role.

"Well, you're asking a spinner," Lyon said. "I think it's incredibly important. I think the variation in Test cricket, understanding that Test cricket goes for five days, and there's a lot of opportunity for pitches to wear and spinners to be able to produce their craft.

"I've always said as soon as the ball spins there's more eyes on TVs, and I stand by that. You look at when we go over to India, and you look at the conditions there, and the exciting cricket when the ball is spinning, how many people pay attention to it. So for me, spin is incredibly important in the game of cricket, in junior cricket, in first-class cricket, in white-ball, red-ball, it doesn't matter what format, what game of cricket, I think spin plays a massive role here."

Lyon only bowled 15.3 overs in the last day Test in Adelaide in January 2024, on a pitch where the game ended before lunch on day three. Lyon did pick up three wickets, but two were West Indies' No. 11 Shamar Joseph when he was out slogging at the end of both innings as the visitors made just 188 and 120 in a 10-wicket loss.

That game featured a lot of seam movement and variable bounce. But Hough claimed it was due to the use of a different grass type on the drop-in pitch, which has since been abandoned.

"That was a Legend pitch, Legend is a grass variety," Hough said. "This is a Santa Ana Couch, what we've used since 2013, outside of two years. We'll go back to what we know. It's still that mat of grass. We still want that, and we just want to get the compaction right and the moisture levels right. Once the coin is tossed, it's over to the players."

Spin has played a big part in the Shield fixtures so far this season. Victoria left-arm orthodox Doug Warren took a career-best 5 for 69 in the opening round in early October. Queensland legspinner Mitchell Swepson, who has played four Tests for Australia, took 10 wickets in mid-October. South Australia played two spinners in their most recent match against Tasmania and both took wickets. There have been five team scores of over 300 with a highest of 426. There have been seven individual centuries scored including one by Marnus Labuschagne. South Australia seamer Wes Agar has a five-wicket haul, while Test seamer Michael Neser has one of four four-wicket hauls also taken by seamers. But all three red-ball Shield games have had a result, with the only Shield game this season to end in a draw being a rain-affected day-night pink-ball game.

"Our Shield pitches have played really well," Hough said. "They've been a really good contest. The feedback has been really good.

"We're just are trying to get a contest between bat and ball.

"The calibre of bowlers step up at international level. We know that compared to Shield level. But we've got some hot weather, and you would expect with hot weather that the spinners will come into it because of that hot weather."