Spinner's numbers are nowhere near as modest as he is
Sunday 19 November 2017 14:05, UK
Lion, Lyono, Gazza, Garry… Nathan Lyon has more nicknames than a professional wrestler.
He probably has a few more now, what with this week's smoke-inducing events at Brisbane's Allan Border Field when he became so engrossed in the cricket that he burnt his toast, set off the fire alarm, caused the local brigade to rush into action, forced a stand evacuation and delayed New South Wales' Sheffield Shield clash with Queensland by 30-odd minutes.
Another of his names, though, and no doubt the one he is secretly most proud of, is GOAT, standing for Greatest of All Time, which, when it comes to Australian off-spinners, is what he statistically now is, having overtaken Hugh Trumble's tally of 141 Test wickets in 2015.
Lyon - whose Garry and Gazza monikers, if you were unware, stem from the likable twirler sharing the same surname as former Aussie Rules footballer Garry Lyon - will begin the Ashes with 269 scalps in 69 games, placing him seventh on Australia's all-time list.
Jason Gillespie (259) and Richie Benaud (248) are the latest men he has bested and as still a relative whippersnapper - he turns 30 on Monday - he may well have third place in his sights, the 355 picked up by Dennis Lillee. Heck, even Glenn McGrath's 563 doesn't look beyond the realms of possibility.
Lyon's numbers are testament to not only his skill but also his character and perseverance.
His skill has been evident in abundance in 2017, with only South Africa's pace ace Kagiso Rabada (54) and Sri Lanka's spin king Rangana Herath (51) bagging more wickets than his 46, in a greater number of matches to boot.
The records have tumbled like the batsmen he has bowled at. The best figures in India by a visiting bowler (8-50 in Bengaluru); the most wickets for Australia against India in Tests (64); the best match figures in Asia by an Australian bowler (13-154 against Bangladesh in Chittagong).
"I think it's a lot to do with confidence. I've put enough pressure on myself to go out there and perform well. To take 22 wickets in a two-match series is a pretty big achievement. But I don't do that without the other guys putting in at the other end."
He also came within a whisker of matching the highest number of wickets in a two-Test series, with his 22 against Bangladesh only topped by the 23 Herath claimed against Pakistan in 2014.
Lyon's 13-for in Bangladesh came with Australia needing a win to level the series and avoid a first Test reverse against the Tigers, with his maiden 10-for coming in trying circumstances, albeit of a different kind, in Adelaide three years earlier.
Two weeks after the passing of Phillip Hughes when he was struck on the neck by a ball in a Sheffield Shield game, Lyon - who was in the opposition on that dreadful day - managed to raise Aussie spirits when he took 12 wickets in an emotional win over India.
"I look back at that game with a lot of pride and a lot of memories," he remarked at the time. "It's one of those games that's going to stick with me for the rest of my life. No doubt it helped."
Lyon - the custodian of the Australian team song, Under The Southern Cross I Stand, an honour bestowed upon him by previous incumbent Mike Hussey - is clearly a man with ticker, but that has been plain to see for years, as he has rebounded from frequently losing his place in the side to becoming one of the most instrumental figures in it.
“To play 50 Test matches for Australia — the only finger spinner to do that — is simply an unbelievable achievement.
Things started off well enough when he took a five-for on debut against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2011 - including Kumar Sangakkara with his first ball - but Lyon has often been the fall guy.
Binned off for Xavier Doherty in India in 2013 after Australia lost the first Test and then jettisoned for Ashton Agar in the 2013 Ashes opener despite taking nine-for against India in his previous game.
Sure, Agar made his mark by walloping 98, the highest score by a No 11 batsman, but Lyon was back in the Baggy Green by the third Test and collected 4-42 in England's first dig in the fourth, at Durham.
Lyon's spot was in peril as recently as last winter with slow left-armer Steve O'Keefe all set to replace him for the Adelaide Test against South Africa until the latter suffered a calf issue - Lyon went on to take four wickets in the match and hasn't really looked back.
"People don't realise just how mentally strong Lyono is," former Australia captain Michael Clarke wrote in a News Corp column. "When you consider the criticism he's copped and the circumstances in which he's been dropped over the years, it shows what an absolute fighter he is."
The subcontinent has subsequently been the making of Lyon, with Australia coach Darren Lehmann noting his development during a transitional period for the squad: "He's really grown.
"We changed the set-up of the side 12 months ago and we've had a lot of young guys come in the group. He's had to take a next step as a leader - we are really pleased the way he's gone about that."
Lyon remains as modest and down-to-earth as ever, readily admitting after his heroics this year that he still classes India's Ravichandran Ashwin as "probably the No 1 spinner in the world" and that his sole concern when he plays cricket is to "go out there and do well for my mates and the whole Australian public".
Perhaps that humility and lack of showmanship - Lyon doesn't possess the rippling muscles, tousled hair and box-office appeal of England's 2013/14 destroyer-in-chief Mitchell Johnson, for example, or the swagger of Shane Warne, a man whose excellence all Australian spinners will be unfairly measured against - is why he is not held in greater regard.
Nope, a show pony he is not. He's just Garry, Gazza, Lyono, Lion - a great team man, a fantastic bowler, and a big threat to England in the Ashes series. Just don't ask him to make you breakfast.
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