Lyon's eye on Ashes during heavy Shield workload

As Nathan Lyon wheeled away through 45 overs at Adelaide Oval this weekend, it wasn't only the need to quell South Australia's combative top-order batters that occupied his mind.

In returning the 22nd five-wicket haul of his decade-long first-class career, Lyon also kept half an eye on his next scheduled Test cricket assignment – the 2021-22 home Ashes campaign against England.

The first match of that five-Test series might be eight months away or more, but Australia's record-breaking spinner is already plotting strategies for his likely opponents having endured a frustrating Vodafone Series against India.

Lyon's 5-122 for New South Wales in the ongoing Marsh Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval saw him sit atop the list of leading Shield wicket-takers for this summer, underscoring his standing as the nation's pre-eminent spin bowler.

And he welcomed the opportunity to hone his craft against the surfeit of left-handed batters in the Redbacks' top order – five of their first seven, as they piled on 8(dec)-482 – in preparation for the upcoming battle against England.

The 33-year-old noted that during Australia's 2-1 Vodafone Series loss to India, in which he claimed nine wickets at an average of 55.11, the only recognised left-handed batter he found himself bowling at was aggressive keeper Rishabh Pant.

By contrast, during the previous Ashes series in the UK two years ago – which he finished as Australia's second-highest wicket-taker behind Pat Cummins – he was regularly pitted against left-handers the likes of opener Rory Burns, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali.

From noting the manner in which England looked to combat him during that campaign, where Lyon snared 20 wickets at 33.40 across five Tests, he has a clear idea of how their batters will look to attack him next summer.

So that became a focus for him as he bowled virtually unchanged from the Riverbank End of Adelaide Oval as SA's left-handers Alex Carey (125), Jake Lehmann (80), Jake Weatherald (66), Travis Head (64) and Harry Nielsen (50) all found themselves among the runs.

"The way that Jake Weatherald batted is very similar to the way the Poms are probably going to look to play me off the back foot, and the same as Harry Nielsen," Lyon said at the end of day one.

"They don't want to get caught on the crease, so there's a few areas in the game where I'm trying to learn and adapt in Australian conditions.

"If you look at the Ashes, from the last three Test matches over in England, a lot of lefties played me off the back foot.

"There's a challenge there for me to bring the stumps into play, so I'm definitely thinking about it (the Ashes).

"Who isn't thinking about it?"

Lyon has also been an interested observer of England's recently completed Test series in India, partly because Australia's distant hopes of reaching this year's inaugural ICC World Test Championship Final hinged on their Ashes rival's ability to win or draw on the sub-continent.

But that failed to materialise, and Lyon became just as interested in the failings England's batters showed on spinning pitches where India pair Ravichandran Ashwin (32 at 14.71) and Axar Patel (27 at 10.59) shared 59 of the 80 England wickets to fall.

So while Lyon's immediate focus is to help NSW win matches in the back half of the domestic summer, he is also formulating plans of attack for next summer as he eyes his 400th Test wicket having finished the India series on 399.

And the chance to bowl at so many left-handers on a slower and drier than usual Adelaide Oval pitch provided a welcome learning opportunity, even if he could have done a lighter workload than almost 50 overs.

"When you come across the way the left-handers are playing me – take Travis (Head) and Alex (Carey) out of it because I've bowled to them a lot, so they know how to play me pretty well," Lyon said.

"But understanding the way that Jake (Weatherald) and Harry Nielsen have gone about it, if you look at the footage I don't think there's much of Jake Weatherald wanting to come on the front foot.

"So when you come across any left-hander it's a good chance to learn.

"I only really had one to bowl at across the whole summer with Rishabh Pant, but I'm enjoying bowling here.

"I'm very happy with the way they came out, and there's always room for improvement.

"There's a few things I want to work on leading into the Ashes next year, but I'm pretty happy.

"And also pretty tired."