No Lyon around: Spinner gets busy to fill empty schedule

While Nathan Lyon stresses he is yet to cast his mind forward to next summer's Ashes, the off-spinner is eyeing off another career first by the time England arrive in Australia later this year; a pre-season.

In addition to having a rare extended focus on winning domestic silverware with no international cricket on the horizon, Lyon is also preparing for an unprecedented period at home over the coming months.

Such has been the unique trajectory of his remarkable rise from greenkeeper to Test cricketer that the 33-year-old has never been afforded the luxury of a full off-season to hone his game.

Having famously gone from being an Adelaide Oval curator to wearing the Baggy Green in less than a year, Lyon has spent at least some part of each of the past 10 winters abroad since his Test debut in Sri Lanka in 2011.

"I've actually never done a full pre-season in my professional career," Lyon told reporters on Wednesday on the eve of NSW's second Marsh Sheffield Shield clash with Victoria in as many weeks.

"It's probably a really good opportunity for me to recharge and refresh, do all my work with NSW cricket but also do my own stuff with Tom Carter, my personal trainer.

"It's a good opportunity to reset some goals and see where we get to … It will be a really good pre-season to get healthy and get fit."

Those plans could be dashed if, as Lyon is hoping, England and India either draw their ongoing Test series or England win 2-1, which would put Australia into the World Test Championship final later this year.

He is also eager to push his case for a recall to the national white-ball teams, with the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme listing an Australian tour of the Caribbean this winter, as well as reports of a T20 series in Bangladesh ahead of the T20 World Cup.

The Ashes, however, remains top on the Aussies' radar and Lyon wants to help the side atone for their recent 1-2 Test series defeat to India, which he concedes will give England encouragement that the side is beatable.

"The Ashes feels like ages away even though it may be our next Test match. I haven't really thought about it (but) I'm excited by the prospect of England coming out here," said Lyon.

"It seems every time an Ashes rolls around, the attention on that series gets bigger and bigger.

"I know they're playing some really positive cricket over in India and they've got a big summer over there (at home) in England.

"They're going to be confident coming over here especially watching India beat us at home.

"But if we play our positive brand of cricket and learn from where we went wrong this summer, then I think we'll be okay."

Lyon admits he wishes he could "rewind time" and replay decisive moments in India's second Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph in Australia in three years, while he has also discussed where the side went wrong over rounds of golf with his fellow bowlers.

For now, his focus is purely on helping NSW win a second consecutive Marsh Sheffield Shield title as well as claiming the 50-over tournament for the first time since 2016.

Which marks another first.

"(Not having a Test tour coming up is) totally different," said Lyon. "It's really nice to be at home.

"To put our pure focus into the rest of the Shield season, it will work out that I play the rest of the Shield season and I haven't done that ever.

"It's a really good opportunity and NSW, we're a strong squad. We've got to make sure we play positive cricket and enjoy the challenge."