Lyon's best year and Root's conversion problem

Joe Root currently has 33 fifties and 13 centuries. He was dismissed lbw by Josh Hazlewood for 51 in the second innings. Since his debut in 2012 until the end of 2014, Root scored five hundreds and seven fifties. However, since then Root has 26 fifties but only eight centuries. Root scores a half-century once every 2.4 innings and a century only once every 8.6 innings. If you look at his peers, Root has the best innings-per-fifty ratio but in terms of converting them to bigger scores Root is the worst.

Steven Smith scores a century once every five innings while Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and David Warner make a century once every six innings. Root, on the other hand, takes nine innings per century which is three more than the best. In 2017 alone, he has been dismissed four times between scores 50 and 59 which is a cause of a concern. Interestingly, since his debut, Root has 29 scores between 51 and 90 - the most for any batsmen in this period. The next on the list is David Warner with 21 such scores. Interestingly, when it comes to the second innings the poor conversion rate is even more evident. Root has just one century and 12 half-centuries in the second innings but has 12 hundreds and 17 fifties in the first innings.

Nathan Lyon has had his best year in Test cricket. He now has 51 wickets for the year - third-highest for a bowler this year. He also became the first spinner from Australia since 2005 to take 50 or more wickets in a calendar year. Shane Warne took 96 in 2005. Lyon is also the first offspinner from Australia to take 50 or more wickets in a calendar year since Hugh Trumble took 53 in 1902. In 2017, Lyon has 24 wickets and averages 17.20 against left-handed batsmen and 27 wickets at an average of 28.59 against right-anded batsmen.

Moeen Ali played a key role in increasing the lead for England with some quick runs. Before he walked out to bat, England were scoring at a run rate of 2.19 runs per over. They had scored 74 runs from 202 balls with seven fours. When Moeen was batting, England scored 81 runs from 117 deliveries at a rate of 4.15 with 12 fours. Moeen added 39 runs with Root and 42 with Jonny Bairstow, taking England from 74 to 155 in under 20 overs.

Australia were set 170 to win against England. Historically, when they have been set a target between 170 and 200 against England, they have won thrice, lost twice and drawn twice. However, earlier this year, Australia failed to chase 188 against India in Bengaluru but those conditions were much harder for the batsmen.