In the four Tests played at this stadium, the offspinner has outperformed his fast-bowling team-mates
Alex Malcolm20-Nov-20244:38
Australia SWOT analysis: Formidable attack, but top-order questions
Every overseas batter that plays in Perth prepares for the same threat. Fast bowlers steaming in at them. The extra pace. The steep bounce. The keeper standing a mile behind them. The ball flying past their chest and thudding into his gloves above his head. Three slips and a gully also halfway to the fence. A short leg breathing into their ribcage.They spend days in the equally quick nets out the back of Perth Stadium facing fast bowling. Getting used to fuller length balls flying past the shoulder of the bat. Getting bombarded with short-pitched throwdowns.It causes nightmares for some players. Even Travis Head admits this surface makes him uncomfortable at times. He was clocked on the helmet at training on Wednesday during a barrage of short-pitched throwdowns from Australia coach Andrew McDonald.Related
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But the leading threat in four Tests played at this venue is not Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood.It is Nathan Lyon. Australia’s offspinner has more wickets here (27) at a better average (18.00) with more five-wicket hauls (2) than any of his fast-bowling colleagues.It seems counterintuitive, but Lyon’s record in Perth is remarkable. Opponents prepare fastidiously for the fast-bowling exam and end up flunking the spin-bowling questions.The reasons for Lyon’s success are obvious. His stock offspinner has more overspin and creates steeper bounce than anyone else’s in world cricket. That ball, combined with relentless accuracy, on this Perth pitch is a problem not many players have solved.”It’s a place I love bowling,” Lyon said last month. “There’s some nice bounce, nice pace and with the breeze there as well you are able to get the ball with a little bit of drift. All the usual stuff but I just thoroughly enjoy playing cricket there.”Lyon’s success in Australia overall compared to his spin-bowling contemporaries is also extraordinary. Australia has been a graveyard for spinners over the years, especially conventional finger spinners.Nathan Lyon ‘can’t wait for this summer to start’•Getty ImagesThe gap between Lyon and R Ashwin’s bowling averages in Australia is larger than the inverse gap between their respective records in India.But when you isolate the last two Border-Gavaskar series in Australia, the picture is very different. India’s spinners, including Ashwin, have out-performed Lyon. He has averaged 37.83 per wicket compared to 30.88 across his career at home.It has been a big part of India’s two series victories in Australia. India’s batters have played Lyon better than Australia’s batters have played Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. They have actually used his consistency against him and heaped more pressure on Australia’s quicks as a result.And while India’s batters might be fearful of the pace barrage they are about to receive down under, especially given their recent form, the way they plan for Lyon might be a pivotal part of the series once more. His battles with Virat Kohli have been riveting down the years.”I’ve got nothing but respect for Virat,” Lyon said on Monday. “I want to get him out. There’s no point in hiding behind that. But it’s challenging. Him and Smithy [Steven Smith] are the two guys, if you ask me, they’re probably the best two batters of this last decade. So it’s been pretty amazing competing against him so many times, and I’m looking forward to the challenge over the next five Test matches.”But the match-up with India’s two main left-handers’ looms as the most fascinating in this series. One is a known quantity in Rishabh Pant and Lyon knows what he’s in for.”He’s an incredible player, isn’t he,” Lyon said. “Am I expecting him to try and hit me for six every ball? Yeah. That’s what I love. That’s a big challenge but it’s what I thrive on.”The other is an unknown. Lyon has never bowled to Yashasvi Jaiswal. Australia’s Test quicks have at least seen him in the IPL.Nathan Lyon gained some intel on bowling to India from Tom Hartley during his County stint•Getty ImagesLyon has turned to an unlikely source for some reconnaissance. Lyon spent the first half of the winter playing county cricket with Lancashire. It was an eight-game stint that was unpopular with the England team and their coach Brendon McCullum because England left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, fresh off a promising tour of India, only played three games in the first half of Lancashire’s season and hardly bowled in two of them while playing alongside Australia’s offspinner.Lyon, though, found the experience incredibly fruitful, which will only add to McCullum’s frustrations. He mined Hartley for every piece of detail he could give on bowling to Jaiswal and India’s batters earlier this year in India.”I know that those guys are attacking and talking to Tommy Hartley was really brilliant insight,” Lyon said.”I wasn’t there. I didn’t watch every ball but talking to Tommy in the nets about not just Jaiswal but the whole team, just getting the understanding on how they played him even though he’s a different finger spinner, I feel like there’s so much for me to learn as well.”It’s going to be a massive challenge, but you want to play against best players in the world don’t you, and you want to go up against that challenge. So that’s what I’m pretty excited about and I can’t wait for this summer to start. I’m sick of talking about it.”
