Lyon ponders county cricket stint

Australia's record-setting spinner Nathan Lyon has revealed he has considered plying his trade on England's county scene now that he has once again been overlooked for limited-overs duties for his country.

Having been recalled but subsequently discarded from Australia's one-day international and Twenty20 squads during the past month, Lyon's international commitments appear likely to remain on hold between the end of the current Qantas Tour of New Zealand next week and the next Test series in Sri Lanka in July.

In the meantime, his Test teammates who are also involved in white-ball cricket will have spent a week in South Africa and up to a month in India for the upcoming World T20 as well as their Indian Premier League obligations and a tri-series in the West Indies that also features South Africa.

That would create a four-month window in which Lyon, who is poised to become the first Australian and just the sixth off-spinner in Test history to claim 200 wickets, could feasibly hone his red-ball skills with a stint as an overseas player in the county championship.

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But while admitting he would be interested in looking at that possibility, the 28-year-old is more likely to return to Australia next week in the hope that New South Wales reaches the Sheffield Shield Final and then take a break from competitive cricket to prepare himself for Sri Lanka.

The tour on which he announced himself as a Test bowler almost five years ago when he captured the wicket of Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara with his first delivery at the elite level.

"I possibly would look at it (county cricket) but we’ve got a Test series in Sri Lanka in July-August," Lyon told cricket.com.au in an exclusive interview in Christchurch where he is preparing for the second and final Test against the Black Caps beginning on Saturday.

"That's going to be dead set in the middle of the county season so I might take that time off to get fit, get some kilometres under the legs again and then have a little bit of time away from the game also."

Despite his most recent axing from Australia’s limited-overs teams – both the ODI squad that toured NZ prior to the Tests and the 15-man T20 squad that will contest the World T20 – Lyon refuses to accept that he is earmarked for Test cricket only.

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While accepting that his absence from the white-ball formats might provide a benefit by enabling him to extend his Test career for perhaps another decade, Australia's most successful off-spinner nurses a hunger to prove himself in all formats.

Which is understandable given it was his performances in limited-overs cricket for South Australia before he returned to his native NSW that brought him to the attention of national selectors, and a Test debut in 2011.

Since then, Lyon has played 53 Tests for 192 Test wickets at 32.84 but only 10 ODIs (for 12 wickets at 38.66) and a solitary T20 International (at the MCG last month).

But his appetite for the short-form game remains undimmed.

"I want to play every white ball game that I can possibly play for Australia," he said.

"Our careers seem long, but they're only a short time of your life so I want to try and enjoy that and play as much cricket as I can.

"If that's red ball cricket only, or if that's white ball, pink ball and red ball then who knows.

"I want to play every game that I possibly can so I just have to keep going out there and performing well, keep putting my hand up for selection.

"Everyone knows I want to play all three formats but it's up to the selectors to choose the best side that they think is going to win that series."

Selection chair Rod Marsh had previously indicated that Lyon was overlooked for the three-match Chappell-Hadlee Trophy Series that preceded the Tests in NZ so that he could best prepare for the upcoming red-ball fixtures by playing a Shield match for NSW.

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In New Zealand conditions, given that game was against Western Australia at Lincoln, near Christchurch.

And when the World T20 squad was announced last week with Lyon's name again missing, Marsh noted that the selectors had opted to cover their spin options by naming off-spinner Glenn Maxwell, leg-spinner Adam Zampa and left-arm finger spinner Ashton Agar.

"Not necessarily. No, not necessarily at all,” Marsh said at the time when asked if Lyon’s chances of playing white-ball cricket for Australia were now defunct.

"But at the moment we've decided on other options obviously, Maxwell is the off-spinning man for the T20.

"And we weren't going to carry two of them (to India)."

Lyon said he has yet to discuss his omission, or where he might fit into Australia’s future limited-overs plans with Marsh.

But he hoped to have that opportunity following the conclusion of the World T20, a tournament that Australia has yet to win.

"I haven’t really sat down with Rod (Marsh) and had a chat regarding any white ball cricket," Lyon told cricket.com.au.

"I'll do that I daresay at the end of the season after the World Cup and all that stuff is over for those boys.

"And I'll find out where I sit with all three formats."