Lyon personifies Aussie confidence

The last time the Australian Test team flew in to Adelaide, they did so gripped by turmoil.

Weighed down by a five-match losing streak, a restructured squad with no less than six new faces was tasked with saving the national team from their downward spiral and making Australia great again.

Currently the fifth-ranked Test side in the world, there's no doubt this current team is not the finished product yet. But the mood in the Australian camp when they returned to Adelaide on Tuesday could not have been any more different to that of 12 months ago.

And no one personifies that change quite like spinner Nathan Lyon.

Lyon landed in his former home city this time last year battling the worst form slump of his career. Having been publicly singled out following the 0-3 series thumping in Sri Lanka, the off-spinner picked up just two wickets at more than 120 runs apiece in the first two Tests of the home summer and then bowled 46 wicketless overs in a Shield game in Sydney, sparking speculation that he would be jettisoned from a new-look team altogether.

But he survived the cull, and returned to Adelaide on Tuesday in the best form of his life.

Having conquered his Everest this year by finding success on the subcontinent, Lyon was arguably Australia's best bowler at the Gabba this past week as well.

"He kept us in the game on day one," coach Darren Lehmann offered on Tuesday after his spinner bagged five crucial wickets and a match-changing run out against an English side that is facing the same questions (and more) that the Aussies were being asked this time a year ago.

But there's more to Lyon these days than just the wickets he's taking (for the record, he has 51 already this year and could be close to record-breaking territory by the time 2017 draws to a close). His confidence and conviction is impossible to escape and there's a swagger about him too, whether he's casually stepping out his run up or doing what he does at training. 

He's a handy fisherman, too; he uncharacteristically threw out some bait to the media last week and reeled them all in, allowing - as he'd planned - his new Test teammates to escape the spotlight.

The man known as 'The GOAT' is so confident that Lehmann today even compared him to the man who is unquestionably the Greatest Of All Time when it came to self-assurance on the field.

"He's actually come out of his shell a lot ... a bit like Warnie did when he played," Lehmann said.

"He's obviously not as confident as Warnie was. But he's really starting to lead and help the bowlers out.

"He's just grown with confidence and success breeds that, I suppose.

"He's totally changed. He never had to change too much in Australia ... it was more when he went away from Australia, to the subcontinent, he had to change a few things.

"And he did that and he had success. He's starting to believe that he can change when he needs too, which is important."

Rewinding again to a year ago and those rumours that Lyon's form slump, which included more than 600 first-class deliveries without a wicket, was about to cost him his Test spot.

At the time, selector Trevor Hohns said Lyon's state teammate Stephen O'Keefe was "in serious contention" for a call-up until he suffered an untimely calf injury on the eve of the re-cast squad being announced.

On Tuesday, Lehmann wasn't drawn on just how close Lyon had come to the axe. But he conceded his spinner, like the entire squad, had been "put on notice".

"We talked about how he needed to perform, but that was like everyone," he said. "When you get to that stage (five losses in a row) everyone needed to perform, everyone was put on notice.

"The pleasing thing is that he's bounced back from that, and from that moment on he's really led the attack. In the spin bowling department, he's been the only one, apart from when we go to the subcontinent, but he's been brilliant."

It's been 12 months, 11 Tests and 61 wickets since Lyon last touched down in Adelaide wearing the Australian colours.

And his career, like his off-breaks, has turned in a big way.

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21