Lyon primed for fresh battle with Proteas' 'special player'

Nathan Lyon says his county stint at Lancashire has given him an edge over Proteas star David Bedingham as the pair prepare to face off on English soil for the second time in a year.

Despite Bedingham, playing for Durham, belting twin centuries against Lyon's Lancashire during their clash in last year's County Championship, the off-spinner gleaned valuable insights he believes could give Australia an advantage in next week's World Test Championship final at Lord's.

Lyon dismissed the right-hander caught behind in the second innings during the match at Blackpool, but only after Bedingham had reached 103, which followed his 101 in the first innings.

The 31-year-old South African was county cricket's leading division one run-scorer in 2024 with 1,331 at 78, also notching a double-century against Lancashire in their return clash later in the year after Lyon's eight-game stint had finished.

"He's a special player," Lyon said of his South Africa rival ahead of the WTC final.

"We picked up a couple of things (from that game) and I've already passed it onto our bowlers, so that should be interesting to see how they use that."

However, Bedingham's lead up to the Test decider this year has been hampered by injury, only managing two appearances for Durham after fracturing his toe in April.

He is one of several new faces in the Proteas batting line-up since their last encounter with Australia in 2022-23.

The two nations weren't scheduled to play each other during the current WTC cycle, during which Bedingham was South Africa's leading batter with 645 runs, while opener Ryan Rickelton and allrounder Wiaan Mulder both averaged above 50 to also establish their spots in the side.

Since they lost 2-0 to Australia during the previous WTC cycle, former skipper Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Sarel Erwee and Theunis de Bruyn have all retired from international cricket.

Left-hander Rickelton has been joined at the top of the order by the returning Aiden Markram, who averages more than 40 in 12 Tests since February 2023, while young gun Tristan Stubbs has also carved out a place in the middle order with two hundreds in his first nine Tests.

Lyon revealed his opposition research had even extended to watching clips of this week's tour match between South Africa and Zimbabwe, which was abandoned on Friday with only one day of play possible due to persistent rain along England's south coast.

Rickelton, Stubbs and skipper Temba Bavuma each hit half-centuries on Wednesday in SA's 2(dec)-313 and Kagiso Rabada picked up a wicket before stumps, but the remaining two days were washed out with only 90 overs completed in the match.

As has been customary for Australian touring sides, they have opted against a practice match in favour of intensive 'bat v ball' centre-wicket sessions.

The veteran spinner enters next week's Test final having not played since Australia's 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka in February after an extended break to manage a hip complaint brought on by a seven-Test summer.

"That's all good to go now," the 37-year-old said. "I haven't stopped training since the end of Sri Lanka and bowling wise, I've been going for a good five to six weeks now.

"My workload is where we want it and skill wise (the ball) is coming out my hand exactly the way I want at the moment … so I'm feeling really confident."

World Test Championship Final

June 11-15: South Africa v Australia, Lord's

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Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster. Travelling reserve: Brendan Doggett

South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne