Australia’s Nathan Lyon bowls on Day 2 the Test match vs New Zealand.© AFP
Australia’s experienced spinner Nathan Lyon disclosed that his biggest weapon is the bounce that he is able to extract from the surface following his heroics with the bat and ball in the first Test against New Zealand on Saturday. Lyon starred with the bat following his influential knock of 41 as a nightwatchman. Efforts from the 36-year-old with the bat propelled Australia’s score to 164 and helped them set a total of 369. He went on to showcase his skills with the ball as he bagged crucial wickets of Tom Latham (8) and Kane Williamson (9) to reduce the Kiwis to 111/3 at the end of Day 3 in Basin Reserve.
On his second ball on Day 3, Lyon got off the mark by dismissing Latham with a short and wide delivery. After the end of the day’s play, Lyon talked about his plan to deal with the opposition batters.
“My biggest weapon and it’s no secret is my bounce all around the world. So I’ll continue to try and put some over spin on the ball and try and get the bounce and try and hit the stickers on the bat and challenge the guys’ defence on the crease. I’ve got a fair understanding of what their plan is going to be. So it’s a good opportunity for me tonight to reset some goals and reset some plans and we’ll go from there,” Lyon said.
Apart from his remarkable craftsmanship with the ball, earlier in the day, Lyon showed his resilience with the bat with his knock of 41 off 46 deliveries which was laced with six boundaries.
While his knock drove Australia’s scoreboard the rest of the batters failed to leave their mark in the second innings. Glenn Phillips removed Australia’s five out of the first seven batters. Lyon admitted that the batters would be frustrated with the way they lost their wickets.
“I dare say so. But I’ll never criticise our batters the way they go about it because they’ve been exceptional for a number of years now. But then you’ve got to give credit to the bowlers and this is my big thing. Bowlers are actually there to bowl good balls. And it’s not always the batters’ fault getting out and bowlers are allowed to come up with plans and execute and take wickets. No doubt there will be some frustration in there,” Lyon added.
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