There had been whispers since Perth—and they quickly became roars when Michael Neser was spotted marking out his run-up before play.
Sure enough, at the yesterday’s Second Test Ashes toss Steve Smith confirmed this country’s finest ever off-spinner Nathan Lyon had been unceremoniously dropped by Australian selectors in favour of a five-man pace attack for the pink ball Ashes Test at the Gabba.
Chair of selectors George Bailey admitted Lyon was not happy about his Gabba axing, the second time the 38-year-old has been dropped for a pink ball Test in five months, having also been left out against the West Indies in Jamaica back in July.
“I don’t think he agreed with it, and that’s fine,” Bailey said in Brisbane.
“Beau Webster’s also in the same boat, that was heavily debated around whether Inglis and Webster, Neser and Webster, all those were heavily debated.”
‘Absolutely filthy’ says Lyon after axing
Speaking to Channel 7 during the final session, Lyon explained he only found out about the decision when he arrived at the Gabba ahead of play on day one, describing his conversation with George Bailey as ‘short’.
“Absolutely filthy, but can’t do anything about it so hope I can play my role in making sure I get the guys ready and do whatever I can to make sure that we get the right result here,” he said.
Lyon had plenty of supporters in his corner, including former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie who labelled the move by selectors as ‘overthinking’.
“Why, when you have 600+ test wickets of experience out of your team, leave out a superb spinner with 500+ test wickets? 3mm of grass on Gabba surface. The decision beggars belief,” Gillespie commented on X.
George Bailey has stated Lyon will return for the third Test in Adelaide, but it does little to ease the off-spinner’s annoyance right now—even more so after watching a first day that saw Mitchell Starc again forced to carry the wicket-taking load against a much improved England.