Sydney
Nathan Lyon, Australia’s veteran off-spinner, has expressed confidence in making a return to the Test team ahead of the upcoming home summer. He has recovered from a calf injury that he sustained during the second Ashes Test in July. Lyon, who played his 100th consecutive Test match during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, suffered the injury while taking a catch off the bowling of Cameron Green. Although he faced 13 balls with the bat and received a standing ovation from the crowd, he was diagnosed with a significant calf strain and ruled out for the rest of the series. Now, Lyon is set to play in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales against Victoria at the MCG, starting from Thursday. His aim is to be available for Australia’s first Test of the 2023/24 home summer against Pakistan in Perth, commencing on December 14. Lyon expressed his eagerness to return, saying, I’m fit to go, so if there was a Test match tomorrow I’d be playing. I’ll be doing everything in my power to be there. We’ve got a pretty exciting summer. Three Test matches against Pakistan and two against the West Indies again, so it’s jam-packed, and we go to New Zealand for a couple as well. All in all, we’ve got about seven Test matches over the summer, which is going to be fantastic to be a part of. Discussing the ongoing Men’s ODI World Cup, Lyon emphasized the significant role played by David Warner and concurred with Tim Paine’s view that Warner is one of the greatest-ever white-ball batters from Australia. Lyon believes that there will be a massive hole in the side once Warner decides to retire.
