Lyon not worried by loss of left-armers

The retirement of Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc's injury woes are testing the depth of Australia's pace attack but it could have the greatest knock-on effect for spinner Nathan Lyon.

For the remaining three Tests of the summer, off-spinner Lyon will have to toil away without his two left-armed partners in crime, who created footmarks for him to bowl at.

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But Lyon said he would make do with whatever conditions he was presented with and wasn't worried about his game being blunted by their loss.

"We're just going to have to make sure we run over the wicket a little bit more," Lyon said on Friday.

"There's going to be footmarks there. Josh Hazlewood might just have to come around the wicket.

"I'm happy to work with whatever we have to."

With Johnson having hung up his boots and Starc out for an extended period due to foot and ankle concerns, the Australians are once again facing uncertainty in their line-up heading into the first Commonwealth Bank Test against the West Indies, due to begin in Hobart next Thursday.

Victorian quick James Pattinson has not made a Test appearance since early 2014 in South Africa, while Nathan Coulter-Nile has been hurried into the squad despite having not played in this season's Sheffield Shield.

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Another Victorian, the uncapped Scott Boland, has been put on notice should injury befall any of the Test squad members.

At 28 and with 49 Tests under his belt, Lyon is suddenly one of the elder statesmen of the side and said New South Welshman he was feeling his responsibilities grow with each series.

"In each and every game it seems to be going up another notch," Lyon said.

"I'm enjoying it. It's another challenge for myself.

"I'm looking forward to helping out Steve (Smith) and Davey (Warner) and Peter Siddle who are the senior guys in the squad at the moment.

"It's exciting and a new challenge."