The remaining three Ashes Tests occupy the space of barely more than a month,and a tear could take six to eight weeks of rehab.
UnlikeEngland after losing Jack Leach,Australia do have an outstanding back-up for Lyon in the form of the22-year-old Victorian Todd Murphy.
After the preparation of a slow,low and spinning surface at Edgbaston,the Australian selectors discussed the possibility of fielding Murphy as a second spinner in the same XI,after he had performed with maturity in India. There will be no qualms about choosing him for Leeds or beyond if required.
Promising as Murphy is,Lyon’s loss through injury is a blow comparable to the rolled ankle that denied McGrath to Australia for the fateful Edgbaston Test in 2005,or the wrenched knee that robbed England of Simon Jones in Australia on the preceding tour.
As there is no provision for injury substitutes in Test cricket,it also gives the touring side a hugely difficult task ahead to win at Lord’s.
“It’s not ideal,particularly your spin bowler,one player where it’s one role,”centurion Steve Smith said of losing Lyon.
“With batters there’s plenty of us so it’s a bit different,but I think Nathan if he’s no good he’d be a huge loss. Todd Murphy is waiting in the wings,he’s bowled beautifully in the nets and in India,so I’d be confident if he came in.”
In 1993,the Australians managed to win the Lord’s Test by plenty despite losing Craig McDermott when he suffered a twisted bowel during the tourists’ lengthy first innings. Mark Waugh shared the new ball with Merv Hughes,but it was Warne and Tim May who did the bulk of the damage.
The subtlety they exhibited here 30 years ago sprang to mind when Lyon found the priceless first breakthrough for Australia. He beat Zak Crawley through the air and off the pitch for Alex Carey to complete a superb stumping despite a slight deflection off the opener’s pad.
Lyon’s control allowed Cummins to rotate his seamers at the Pavilion End,until the moment his calf gave way. What followed was anything but subtle:fire and brimstone bouncers with a field set for catching the hook shot.
Cummins was able to conjure 3-34 with that method,and should have had Joe Root even earlier if not for a Cameron Green no-ball. England’s excitable response to these tactics bordered on the fatalistic,as though hooking and taking the risk was the only option available to them withinthe philosophy of Bazball.
Ollie Pope,Ben Duckett and Root all had reason to shake their heads as they wandered off. It took the arrival of England captain Ben Stokes to moderate things in the final hour,aware as a fast bowler himself that unless you are New Zealand’s Neil Wagner it is very difficult to sustain for more than a spell or two.
Profligate as it had been for Green to overstep,Pope,Duckett and Root fell to excellent outfield catches by Steve Smith,twice,and David Warner. Smith’s snaffle of Root,diving forward,was another of the low chances requiring the verdict of the third umpire.
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More surprising was Harry Brook’s reprieve at square leg by Marnus Labuschagne,who allowed a pull shot to burst through his hands.
And though Travis Head landed his off-breaks nicely in the day’s closing minutes,Cummins will have performed a captaincy feat to rankwith his last-day innings at Edgbaston last week if he can marshall a Lord’s victory without Lyon’s help.
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