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From grim to Grimmett for rejuvenated Lyon

Off-spinner jumps ahead of legendary leggie with thrilling late burst on day three

In the days before Adelaide Oval was reborn as a stadium, Australia’s cricket team would enter and leave the venue through a portal that bore the name of a player once regarded the nation’s greatest spin bowler.

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The Clarrie Grimmett Gates beneath the ground’s sprawling Moreton Bay fig trees welcomed a generation of international and domestic players before the recent redevelopment enabled them to arrive and depart through a far less salubrious underground car park.

But on Saturday the legend of Grimmett, the spin wizard rated by some as the 'Bradman of bowling', was imparted firmly in the mind of many too young to have seen him play in the 1920s and 30s but aware of his remarkable wicket-taking record.

Image Id: 132BA7E6F9CA46149426164AD760B6D1 Image Caption: Test cricket - and the Adelaide Oval - has changed a lot since Grimmett's days // Getty


Under the glare of artificial light and with a luminescent pink ball in his hand – concepts as far removed from the New Zealand-born spinner's playing days as how the Oval looked at that time – his name was overtaken in the Test cricket records by a bowler not totally dissimilar.

More so by dint of the fact that Nathan Lyon was born many a mile from Adelaide - in Young, New South Wales - but came to the city to ply his trade (as a groundsman, and then to play cricket for his country) before heading off interstate, than their style of play.

However, Lyon’s finger spin has now claimed more Test wickets (217) than did Grimmett’s leg breaks and googlies.

Lyon bags three to give Australia the edge

Which means only two even more daunting visages of Australian cricket – Shane Warne and the late Richie Benaud – now stand ahead of Lyon in the pantheon of Australia’s most successful spinners.

And that only adds greater retrospective piquancy to the debate that waged prior to this pivotal Test match, when Lyon’s place in Australia’s starting XI was under such harsh scrutiny that many figured he would not even make the initial squad.

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It was only when left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe tweaked a calf muscle on the day before the squad was revealed that Lyon’s name was included in the previews, and then confirmed when the 12-man group was unveiled last weekend.

Underpinning the hubbub to have Lyon excised from the team despite being the nation’s most successful off-spinner was the fact he had bowled around 100 overs – in Test matches and at Sheffield Shield level for NSW – without capturing a solitary wicket.

Lyon's sensational final over on day three

Not even a mishit slog from a tailender that landed in the hands of a fielder on the fence.

But the affable 29-year-old, who has been prone to bouts of self-doubt when wickets haven’t fallen in Warne-esque volumes at his feet on the final days of Test matches, claims he was not feeling the squeeze.

Nor doubting he had a role to play and that luck – like his stock off-break – would turn.

"I didn’t feel under pressure to be honest," Lyon said tonight after his three wickets in the final session against South Africa spun his rejigged team within sight of a drought-breaking Test win.

"I know that on the scorecards there’s been no wickets in the columns, but I feel like I’ve been bowling really well and been able to create chances.

"The way I look at this team, it’s a young exciting team and I’ve played 60 Test matches now and I’ve got a massive role in this team.

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"It’s been an exciting feel this week with a couple of debutants, we’ve been buzzing and we wanted to come out and prove to Australia that cricket is in good hands."

Lyon has sought counsel over the past few days from his long-time spin coach John Davison, the former captain of Canada’s national team who also played first-class cricket for South Australia and Victoria.

Unlike fast bowling coach David Saker, batting coach Graeme Hick and fielding coach Greg Blewett, Davison is a consultant and does not travel full-time with the Australia team.

However, Lyon was quick to point out that his mentor’s appearance in and around the group this week was not a cry for help from a bowler struggling with expectation and output.

"It hasn’t been an emergency call," Lyon said of the fact that Davison has been on hand during the lead-up and early days of the third Commonwealth Bank Test.

"Davo, it was planned earlier in the summer, would come down here to Adelaide.

Watch all South Africa wickets on day three

"He’s someone that I trust really highly and is great to work with.

"He’s one guy that is very handy to have in my corner.

"There’s a bit of that (reassurance), but Davo also challenges me as well.

"To try and get better and better each and every training session that we go and bowl in.

"So he’s just one that I can go back and say ‘what do you think about this, this and this’ and he’ll come back and either agree or disagree.

"And we can have a conversation."

D3: Third session, Australia v South Africa

The other member of the Australia set-up in the recent past with whom Lyon has regularly conversed was wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, who lost his place in the reshuffle that came after the fifth consecutive Test loss in Hobart last week.

Nevill was culled despite popular opinion suggesting he is the best pure ‘keeper in the nation, but whose indifferent batting returns and low-profile presence on the field saw him surrender his berth to the more dynamic, more voluble Matthew Wade.

Quick Single: Healy wades in on keeper's technique

Lyon and Nevill are great friends, with the spinner revealing earlier this summer that they would meet and chat at the end of every over Lyon bowled to debrief, share feedback and bounce ideas.

While Wade is never short of a word, as was shown (and heard) by the incessant stream of encouragement he let forth and was picked up by the on-field microphones, he and Lyon have not played sufficient cricket together to build that same level of rapport.

Wade gets vocal behind the stumps

But their working relationship is strengthening by the day.

"I’ve had a good bowl with Matty in the nets before the game,” Lyon said of Wade, who was scrutinised at length today after he failed to move for a sharp chance that was dropped at slip and after Nevill posted an unbeaten 73 for New South Wales.

"He (Wade) is a world-class keeper as well, and to have that vocal (presence) back in the side it’s probably helping, especially with the younger guys in our team.

"But saying that, Peter Nevill is up there with the best glovemen I’ve ever bowled to."

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