Lyon keen to link up with Murali again

Five years after his remarkable Test journey began, Nathan Lyon is readying himself for a return to Sri Lanka where he hopes to once again call on the expertise of that nation’s greatest bowler Muthiah Muralidaran to help plot the home team’s downfall.

Lyon, just five wickets shy of becoming the first Australian off-spinner to claim 200 Test scalps, returned to bowling at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane last week after taking a total break from the game in the wake of the domestic summer.

He spent several days working with long-time mentor John Davison and bowling in partnership with fellow finger spinner Steve O’Keefe – who is expected to be included in the touring party for the upcoming three-Test tour of Sri Lanka – on a specially prepared ‘spin’ pitch at the NCC.

And while Lyon has endorsed the new training facility as a close replica to the pitches that are prepared at Indian Test venues such as Chennai and Mohali, he is keen to glean further insights from Muralidaran who worked with the Australia spinner during a brief tenure as a consultant bowling coach in 2014.

That was prior to Australia’s previous Test series in sub-continental conditions – the two-match campaign against Pakistan in the UAE which Australia lost 2-0 – and Lyon believes a renewal of that relationship will deliver benefits when bowling in Sri Lanka.

And also in India where Australia will play four Tests early next year, having won a solitary Test series in Asia (including the UAE) over the past decade – Lyon’s debut series in Sri Lanka in 2011 which the visitors won 1-0.

“John Davison and myself were just talking today about a few comments that he (Murali) said about how you should be bowling over on the sub-continent,” Lyon told cricket.com.au following a training session at the NCC.

“So I’m looking forward to putting those into play and hopefully it will be good to catch up with Murali again over there.

“I’ll see if I can tee up to have a coffee at the hotel or even if we can get him down to a training session would be fantastic.”

Even though he is poised to become just the sixth off-spinner in almost 140 years of Test cricket to secure 200 wickets – after Muralidaran (800), India’s Harbhajan Singh (417), West Indian Lance Gibbs (309), England’s Graeme Swann (255) and Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq (208) – Lyon believes he still has much to learn.

And that while he and Muralidaran are vastly different exponents of the finger-spin craft, any advice he can take from the 44-year-old should prove invaluable with Australia scheduled to play Tests against spin specialists Sri Lanka and India (away) as well as Pakistan (home) over the next 12 months.

“It’s not so much technical, I’ve got a little bit different action to Murali,” Lyon said when asked the nature of the tips he had received from the Sri Lankan champion.

“It’s more mindset, and attacking and defending in sub-continental conditions.

“Just understanding the game, and somebody of his quality and what he was able to do in sub-continent conditions was pretty spectacular so if I can learn off him by just listening to him and talking to him then I’m heading in the right direction.”

Lyon announced himself on the Test scene with his maiden delivery as an international cricketer at Galle in 2011, when he had former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara smartly caught by then skipper Michael Clarke at slip.

The first Australia bowler in more than a century to capture a wicket from his inaugural ball in Test company.

He finished that debut innings with 5-34, the first of seven five-wicket hauls he has collected across 54 Tests, but claims he is a vastly different bowler to the one that nervously took the ball and helped bowl Australia to a series-deciding 125-run win five years ago.

“There’s heaps,” Lyon said when asked to pinpoint the major changes from the model that rose from Adelaide Oval ground keeper to debut as a Test off-spinner in the Sri Lankan coastal city of Galle.

“Going technical, I’m more consistent with my bowling.

“I’m a lot more confident in my skill – back when I made my debut I was quite raw, didn’t really know what was going on, I was just riding the rollercoaster.

“Now I understand the game, I understand my role in the team, so I’m feeling really confident and looking forward to going over there.

“I was happy just to play one (Test) and I know my dad said that – ‘lucky you get one game’.

“But it’s been a good journey so far and it would be pretty special to hopefully take the 200^th Test wicket over there where I got the first one.

“There’s a couple of massive challenges for us.

“We haven’t been at our best over there and we need to improve in sub-continent conditions.

“We’re the number one Test team at the moment but we need to go to another level to extend our lead and by doing that, we win away from home.”

In addition to looking forward to renewing his friendship with Muralidaran, Lyon has – in keeping with recent tradition – been tinkering with a new ‘mystery ball’ with a view to unveiling it during the coming summer.

“Of course, there’s always a new one,” Lyon laughed when asked if his earlier mystery ball dubbed ‘Jeff’ could look forward to the arrival of a younger sibling.

“This one spins a little bit further the other way.

“I’ll name it soon.”