The Daily Telegraph - 06.08.2019

Matthew Wade

David Warner Cameron

Bancroft

Usman Khawaja Steve Smith Travis Head

Tim Paine James Pattinson Pat Cummins Peter Siddle Nathan Lyon

Top effort to reinvent himself

as a specialist batsman aged

31 to score 110. Head falls over,

but a dangerous No 6.

Broad had him twice around the

wicket, preying on uncertainty.

Will he be back for that first Test

100 in England? Probably.

Tricky times for openers and

some failures are inevitable. He

leaves well, but plants his front

foot. Top close catching.

Has often been too passive but

not in his second innings of 40

off 48 balls, which opened up

game for Australia and Smith.

The modern master, in spite of

appearances – a cut above very

good players as a great one, who

mentally dominated England.

Two influential innings, of 35

and 51, that helped Smith turn

the game. Putting himself in line

to be Paine’s successor.

Competent, in conservative way,

in declaration and field-placings.

At best when keeping to Lyon

spitting out of the rough.

Terrific first Test for more than

three years. Pace, bounce and

hostility – and hit his highest

Test score at nearly a run a ball.

Improved during the game to

justify his tag as the world’s No 1

Test bowler, and took his 100th

wicket – at only 21 each.

Kept it tight, keeping pressure

on while threatening wickets.

His 44 in a partnership of 88

with Smith changed the game.

Finally performed in the fourth

innings, reaching his 350th Test

wicket. Confirmed as Australia’s

best modern-day off-spinner.

7

3 4 6 10 7

7 8 9 8 9

Australia

player ratings

By Scyld Berry

Lyon exposes hosts to take

unlikely place among greats

How Australia’s ‘GOAT’

left Moeen in the shade

Nathan Lyon (left) comprehensively outbowled Moeen Ali in their respective second innings at Edgbaston. The pitch maps emphasise Lyon's superb control of length,

whereas Moeen too often went far too full. The beehives show how Lyon extracted extra bounce - five of his six wickets were arriving around the batsman's gloves,

which might be partly explained by the extra pace at which he was bowling in comparison to Moeen. He also achieved far more turn - 1.4° degrees, on average.

To add to Moeen's misery, Lyon is his undisputed bogeyman when

bowling at him. Since 2017, he has dismissed him nine times at an

average of under seven.

Nathan Lyon Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali

Nathan Lyon

Average speed Good line and length (%)

Moeen Ali

Nathan Lyon

52.6mph

54.5mph

Average spin

6.4° 5.0°

38.1%

50.8%

How Australia’s ‘GOAT’

left Moeen in the shade

Nath

whe

whic

To a

bow

ave

Na England 2nd innings

Australia 2nd innings

Australia 2nd innings

England 2nd innings

Wickets Wickets

Wickets

Wickets

Runs Balls Scoring rate Wickets Average

92 241 1.5 9 6.95

T

hey say that if you can

bowl spin well in

Australia, you can

bowl it well

anywhere. This

decade, Test spinners

have conceded 47 runs per wicket

in Australia – the second highest in

the world, and 11 runs more than in

England. That Australia is not the

most expensive place for spin is

down to Nathan Lyon alone: he

averages 33 Down Under this

decade, even while Ravichandran

Ashwin and Graeme Swann have

averaged around 50. In his five

Tests in Australia, Moeen Ali

averages 115.

Through bounce, flight, subtle

variations and relentless accuracy,

Lyon has found a way to prosper

for eight years in the most

insalubrious conditions for his art.

As he has done so, he has become

Australia’s accidental great: the

fourth highest wicket-taker in the

country’s Test history, who now

requires just four more wickets to

vault past Dennis Lillee.

But, all the while, one blemish

has remained. Unusually, Lyon’s

fourth-innings record is inferior to

his overall average; he has not

always seemed to relish going from

support act to the main man.

On the final day at Edgbaston,

Australia’s hopes of taking all 10

English second-innings wickets on

a pitch that was wearing but, by

the standard of fifth days, was

nothing treacherous, rested chiefly

with Lyon. He was the centrepiece

of the time-honoured, final-day

plan: first-choice spinner from one

end, while the quicks rotate from

the other. And, while the pitch was

offering useful turn and bounce,

Moeen’s ordeal the preceding day

was a reminder that there are no

guarantees, even with conditions

in your favour.

As many envisaged, Lyon was

involved in Australia’s first wicket

• but through a simple catch at

gully rather than his bowling. Yet

after he entered the attack in the

11th over, Lyon bowled 20 of the

next 21 overs from the River End,

with just a solitary over off.

While Lyon claimed six wickets

• thanks to a cocktail of impeccable
  control to get the ball to bite out of
  the footmarks and a slightly
  quicker speed than he favours in
  Australia – it was his rivalry with
  Moeen that was most revealing.
  Across the second innings in the
  match, Lyon bowled both quicker
  and generated significantly more
  turn. He was also more accurate: 51
  per cent of his deliveries were on
  both a good line and length
  according to CricViz, compared
  with 38 per cent of Moeen’s.
  Having shown up Moeen’s
  bowling, Lyon exposed his batting
  again. In the first innings, Moeen
  simply left a straight delivery
  which uprooted his off stump. This
  time, Lyon repeatedly turned the
  ball away from Moeen until he
  elicited a prod to second slip. Since
  the start of the 2017/18 Ashes, Lyon
  has dismissed Moeen nine times,
  while conceding just 92 runs.

“Nathan is bowling beautifully

to him at the moment and seems to

have a bit of a hold on him,” Lyon’s

admiring captain, Tim Paine, said.

“Nathan’s played on all different

surfaces now, he knows exactly

what he’s doing in all different

situations.”

And as Lyon followed up

Moeen’s wicket with that of Stuart

Broad to his first ball, the sight of

him bowling to James Anderson

with six men around the bat: two

slips, a silly point, what could best

be described as a short point, a

short leg and a leg slip, embodied

the metamorphosis of this game.

For a sense of how Australia will

savour this win, imagine that

England were 122 for eight on the

first day at the Gabba, yet still

completed a thumping 251-run

victory. This, essentially, is what

Australia managed over their five

days at Edgbaston – England’s very

own Gabba. Add in the broader

context – a decade since their last

Ashes victory in England outside

London; no Australian wins at

Edgbaston in any format since

2001, including being pummelled

by England in the World Cup

semi-final three weeks ago; and

Steve Smith’s return after 16

months away from the side – and

you have one of Australia’s greatest

away victories in Test cricket.

And, while this was a triumph

for the deeds of Smith and Lyon, in

a broader sense it was a victory for

Australia’s years of meticulous

planning. This was detectable in

how they have used the Dukes ball

in the past three years of the

Sheffield Shield, encouraging their

players to venture into the County

Championship, sent an Australia A

side to England during the World

Cup, and then played old-fashioned

trial matches in lieu of the

intensity-free warm-ups with

counties.

So perhaps the way that

Australia stormed England’s citadel

betrayed a curious asymmetry to

this summer’s cricket. For England

the World Cup was the centrepiece

of the summer; for Australia – who

have won three World Cups, and

had six changes of prime minister

since their last Test series win in

England – the Ashes loomed as the

main event. The suspicion is

growing that these different

priorities may culminate in both

England and Australia winning

the prize they most valued

this summer.

Spinner’s guile was the

difference, but success

is also down to planning,

writes Tim Wigmore

Man of moment: Nathan Lyon gets a

celebratory kiss from girlfriend Emma

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 6 August 2019 *** 5