Australia are strongly considering leaving out Nathan Lyon for the third Test against the West Indies.
In contrast to the first two Tests, both of which the tourists won, captain Pat Cummins opted against naming the final XI 24 hours out from the first ball in Jamaica.
It leaves the star spinner, whose 562 scalps sit second on Australia’s all time Test wicket-takers list, a chance of being omitted in favour of a four-seamer attack, or potentially a major change-up to team structure with a batter recalled.
“Everything’s an option,” Cummins said cryptically when asked if the 37-year old was a chance of being dropped.
“We honestly haven’t settled on it. We all left yesterday and thought we’d just sleep on it, come back and have a look and make up our mind today.”
The three Ashes Tests Lyon missed on the 2023 Ashes tour to England due to a calf injury are the only matches he has missed since 2013, while Australia haven’t fielded four specialist pace bowlers in a match since a Test against India in Perth in January 2012.
The match will be Australia’s first with a pink ball outside Australian shores – they have an imposing 13-0 record in day-night Tests, far and away the best of any nation.
Lyon has 43 wickets at 25.62 in those matches, a superior record to red-ball Tests, but has regularly found himself surplus to requirements in such games in recent years, as well as on this tour of the West Indies.
He has nine wickets at 18.33 to sit second on Australia’s wicket-takers column for the series behind Josh Hazlewood, but has bowled just 32.3 overs, the fewest of any specialist bowler on either side who has played both Tests.
An economy rate of 5.07 epitomises his usual role throughout the series, which is to bowl at a free-hitting West Indies tail, with Shamar Joseph in particular regularly taking the long handle to the off-spinner.
Nathan Lyon could be left out of Australia’s XI for the third Test against the West Indies. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Cummins said it was ‘mainly the pink ball’ that was playing on Australian minds regarding selection.
In a series dominated by bowlers, and the pitch at Sabina Park looking distinctly green a day out from the Test, Australia could well recall Josh Inglis in Lyon’s stead as an extra batter to bolster their most vulnerable point, and use Beau Webster’s canny medium-pace as the fourth bowling option, with Travis Head’s off-breaks also available.
Cameron Green, however, will still be unable to bowl as he continues his recovery from a serious back injury that saw him miss the entire Australian summer.
Inglis featured in the first Test with Steve Smith sidelined due to a finger injury sustained in the World Test Championship final, but was omitted for the second after failing to make an impact.
Should it be a bowler that replaces Lyon, Scott Boland, who hasn’t played since his heroics in the team’s comeback series victory over India, would be the obvious choice to come in, though a Test debut for long-time understudy Sean Abbott is also an option.
Lyon has already handed over team songmaster duties, a role he has performed since the retirement of Michael Hussey in early 2013, to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, though he has no plans to retire from Tests in the immediate future.