The GOAT, his bunny and a duck: Lyon gets Moeen again

Nathan Lyon's dominance over England allrounder Moeen Ali spectacularly continued early on day three of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.

Moeen was bowled, his off-stump uprooted, by Lyon without offering a shot to walk off for a five-ball duck amid a collapse of 3-4 in 11 balls as the tourists fought back hard on day three.

It's the eighth time in his past 10 Ashes innings Moeen has been dismissed by Australia's veteran spinner, having fallen a record seven times in the 2017-18 Ashes series on Australian soil.

Despite Lyon's stranglehold over the left-hander it was the first time he had captured his wicket without scoring.

In June 2018, ahead of England's home ODI series against Australia, Moeen said he had put the demons of Lyon's supremacy behind him.

But his woes resurfaced in Birmingham.

"He's bowled really well and got me out a few times," said Moeen of Lyon. "But you don't get medals for getting guys out all the time. Who cares? I'm just moving on.

"When we played in the Ashes in England, he never got me out once and nobody said anything. You just get on with it."

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting likened Lyon's hold over Moeen to his own battles with India's Harbhajan Singh, who tormented the champion batsman, particularly in the subcontinent.

"Whenever I went out to bat, Harbhajan would come on and he seemingly had a bit of a spell on me as well. You look forward to those battles and you know that if you can get through that, you're probably going to have a good day or a good series," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"There's definitely a mental hurdle there for Moeen as well and Gaz (Lyon) just knows that he’s got him, he’s on top of him and he’ll keep going after him.

"He knows that (Lyon) is going to bowling to him whenever he comes out to bat. It’ll probably be (Lyon) from one end and our fastest bowler from the other.

"Life is not going to get much easier for Moeen Ali as a batsman."

Five balls before removing Moeen, Lyon dismissed Rory Burns for an eight-hour 133 to break open England's first innings with a lead of just 10 runs.

It came courtesy of a superb catch up to the stumps from captain Tim Paine.

Peter Siddle then captured the wicket of Jonny Bairstow for eight - out to another sharp grab, this time from David Warner at first slip - to swing the match back to parity with eight sessions left to play.

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

First Test: August 1-5,Edgbaston

Tour match: Australians v Worcestershire, August 7-9

Second Test: August 14-18,Lord's

Third Test: August 22-26, Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval