Lyon spins Aussies into control at SCG

Australia’s ploy to play two spinners on an SCG pitch that is likely to remain the driest surface in metropolitan Sydney over coming days was vindicated when Nathan Lyon added yet another major milestone to an already extensive career record.

Amid the heavy showers that robbed more than a session of playing time from a day that was contested under heavy skies and banks of floodlights, Lyon bowled almost half his team’s overs and shone with similar intensity.

Upon dismissing West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite, whose turn it was to play the lone hand that have been a feature of the tourists batting in this lopsided Test series, Lyon became just the fifth Australia spin bowler to claim 100 Test wickets on home soil. 

WATCH: Lyon picks up 100th wicket in Australia

The fact that only one of those – Bill Johnston, whose left-arm orthodox spin was mixed with spells of seam bowling during a career spanning 1947-55 – was a fellow finger spinner underscores the rarity of Lyon’s achievement among Australia’s spin fraternity.

All other members of that exclusive club – Shane Warne (319), Stuart MacGill (135), Clarrie Grimmett (105) and Richie Benaud (104) – are legspinners with a bulk of the 17 Australia bowlers to have crested that peak being seamers.

The West Indies finished a day during which the occasionally heavy showers that are expected to become more frequent and substantial over coming days at 6-207 and for a while it appeared their skipper Jason Holder’s to bat first on the spin friendly pitch had delivered them a rare victory. 

WATCH: Brathwaite's valuable contribution

That was when the tourists went to lunch in comparable comfort 1-92 even though Lyon had extracted noticeable turn from the dry if well-grassed pitch from the moment he was brought into the attack as first-change bowler in the eighth over.

But the breaks in play seemed to have a similar impact on the powers of concentration for the touring batsmen as three of the first four wickets to fall were the result of ill-judgement or – in the case of the West Indies oldest player – inattention prompting incredulity.

The first came when Darren Bravo, the most accomplished of a brittle West Indian top-order in this series, aimed an awkward pull shot at a James Pattinson short ball and scooped a catch down the throat of Usman Khawaja sliding in from deep square leg.

It was one of the few false strokes from the West Indies after opener Shai Hope, included in the starting XI as a late replacement for injured Ravendra Chandrika, nicked off to an impeccable delivery from Josh Hazlewood just 26 deliveries into the day.

Which brought Marlon Samuels into the action, albeit briefly.

Arriving at the crease shortly after lunch with his team having fought stoically to reach 2-104 and with no score above 20 in his preceding eight Test innings, Samuels was presented with a gilt-edged platform on which to aid his team and resurrect a fast-fading career.

But with a solitary scoring shot to his name, Samuels topped the acts of carelessness and indifference that have led many to question his value to a team that is battling hard to rebuild itself in a more robust, resilient form in a single ill-conceived moment of comic madness.

The 34-year-old punched a delivery from Lyon directly at Hazlewood fielding at point, and then set off immediately for a single that was never on only to see his batting partner Kraigg Brathwaite respond to the call, drop his bat mid-pitch and then retreat to the sanctuary of  the non-striker’s end.

Which, in turn, saw Samuels stranded metres from anywhere as the schoolyard dismissal was completed by ‘keeper Peter Nevill and prompted him to throw back his head, cast an admonishing look at his bewildered partner and saunter off with yet another failure to add to his burgeoning collection. 

WATCH: Samuels' shocker at SCG

“Horrific running from Marlon Samuels there,” shrilled Shane Warne on Channel Nine’s commentary, not missing the chance to take another swing at the rival with whom he infamously tangled during his brief stint as skipper of the Melbourne Stars in the KFC Big Bash League.

“He was in no man’s land, saying ‘yes, no’ then stood in the middle of the wicket and blames his partner.

“Sorry Marlon, it was all your fault.”

The fact that his dismissal was followed immediately by a two-hour rain break would have given the Jamaican plenty of time to cool his discontent, or to find somewhere in the SCG dressing rooms to hide from his teammates.

Upon the resumption, the tourists fortunes remained as grim as the Sydney weather as Jermaine Blackwood misread Lyon’s spin and shouldered arms to a delivery that spun sharply and clipped the top of his off stump. 

WATCH: Lyon's peach to get rid of Blackwood

And then in the wake of another lengthy rain break that pushed the game well beyond the scheduled stumps time of 5.30pm, the West Indies lost another pair of wickets in quick succession when Brathwaite’s four-hour vigil ended when he fended another sharp turning ball to slip.

And then Holder became left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe’s first Test wicket in Australia when he flicked a ball off his legs only to see it hauled in one-handed by Joe Burns at the short leg position he is rapidly growing to become a specialist in. 

WATCH: Joe Burns' stunner at short leg

O’Keefe was overlooked for much of the first two sessions of the day before bowling a lengthy stint in the elongated final one, was brought into the XI because of the spinning nature of the SCG pitch which is dry and hard in contrast to the outfield that soaked up today’s showers.

But he is likely to play a key role as the game progresses amid the forecast rain, as a replacement for seamer Peter Siddle who was today ruled out of further involvement in the BBL and won’t return to top-level cricket until the Sheffield Shield resumes next month.

“Peter has an impingement in his left ankle,” Bupa Support Team physiotherapist David Beakley said today in relation to Siddle’s injury.

Quick Single: Injury blow for Melbourne Renegades

“He will return to Melbourne today to commence a period of rest and rehabilitation with the aim of being available for Victoria in their next Sheffield Shield fixture (against Tasmania at the MCG starting February 3).” 

FREE OFFER: Get an Optus Live Pass to stream every ball of the MCG and SCG Tests (and BBL matches) for FREE until midnight January 9. Click here or on the image below.