AUS VS SL, Lyon Ready to “Bowl Ugly”: Nathan Lyon played a key role in Australia’s performance in the 1st Test against Sri Lanka. The spinner dismissed Dickwella, Ramesh Mendis, and Lasith Embuldeniya for the final four Sri Lankan wickets the team took for 19 runs. Lyon believed that their final score of 212 all out was a “huge” difference given the circumstances. Let’s learn from the spinner what he means by “bowling ugly” in the subcontinent.
He said, “I have fallen in love with the shape of the off-break bowling in Australia,” Lyon said. “But coming to the sub-continent that phrase of ‘bowling ugly’ is something that I say to myself to make sure I am using my different variations and bowling at the right speed.
“It’s about me asking different questions in different variations. Whereas in Australia I will probably stick to my strength which is my stock ball and trust in that. When you come over here you have about three or four different variations that you are able to trust and know you’re going to get some assistance off the wickets.”
After removing Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews, two of Sri Lanka’s lower-order hitters, Niroshan Dickwella, who had scored the most runs in the innings, and two more batters, Nathan Lyon finished the first day with a 5-for-90 total.
His opening ball of the day sped past a defending shot after taking off from a length. And despite all of his charms, he still appeared deadly.
“Look at my first ball today, that was on the quicker side of things, and you saw how much that turned and bounced. Every bowler is different, but if you are able to go up and down the gears, I think that’s only going to help you as a spin bowler in these conditions.”
“We always talk of the importance of trying to knock over the tails as quick as we can and you look at the way Dickwella played, he played an incredible inning, he put the pressure right back on us as bowlers. I was really proud of the way we came back after tea and stuck to our plans and we were able to get the late rewards and knock them over.”
Lyon has now surpassed Richard Hadlee on the list of all-time wicket-takers, taking 432 to Hadlee’s 431 thanks to this five-wicket haul. He is now ranked 12th on that list, just one wicket behind Herath.
Talking about the same, he said “The top end of the wicket-takers list – there are some amazing names there. To overtake a few guys, and to join a few guys on whatever number that may be, is something I’m very proud of, there’s no doubt about that.
“For me, it’s always been about what I can do to help the Australian team. The numbers are something I’m proud of but will look at them in more depth at the end of my career. But that’s a long way off.”
Australia is on a long tour to Sri Lanka where the teams have already played white ball series. The 1st of the 2 Test matches are taking place in Galle. Australia bowled out the hosts for 212 runs in the first innings and ended day 1 with them batting at 98 for 3.
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