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