Nathan Lyon ruled out of remaining Ashes series due to a calf tear
Nathan Lyon has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes due to a calf tear. The update comes days after he became the first bowler to play 100 consecutive Tests for Australia.
The off-spinner suffered the injury while fielding during England's 37th over of the first innings on Day 2. Lyon walked in to bat in Australia's second innings on Day 4 despite the injury.
The 35-year-old didn’t come out to bowl in the second innings of the Lord’s Test, but Australia emerged victorious by 43 runs without the off-spinner.
Todd Murphy is the favorite to replace Lyon for the upcoming third Ashes Test, which starts at Headingley, Leeds on July 6.
Major blow to Australia as Lyon limps off with a calf
@BudgySmuggler https://t.co/j8CgCDpK5R
Australian head coach Andrew McDonald told the media:
"Todd is pretty well placed. We like to have a spinner in our attack, it's a different balance. As you saw (at Lord's), at certain times, we had to do it differently without Nathan Lyon down the other end, which we've been so used to. At times it looked a bit chaotic. We do like to have that spin option in the attack.”
Murphy played four Tests during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. The 22-year-old scalped 14 wickets in four Tests, including the wickets of Virat Kohli (four times) and Cheteshwar Pujara (twice). He has scalped 43 wickets in 12 first-class games.
Nathan Lyon will not be a part of the Australia XI for the first time in 101 Tests 🚑
Big loss for the Aussies, who will replace him in the third Test? 🤔
#Ashes #ENGvAUS #NathanLyon https://t.co/E5Q6KuMBp2
Scott Boland likely to return to Australia XI for third Ashes Test
Scott Boland will likely return to Australia’s playing XI for the third Ashes Test after warming the bench in the second game. The team management will decide whether to rest Josh Hazlewood or continue with him in the third Test.
McDonald said that a final decision between Hazlewood and Boland will be taken later. He also confirmed that captain Pat Cummins is unlikely to be rested, and Mitchell Starc will continue as the pace spearhead.
"We'll assess where everyone's at and assess the surface and weather conditions up there.”
He added:
"To see (Starc)'s impact with the new ball ... (he and Cummins) gave us a really good start early (in the fourth innings). Four down really put (England) on the back foot. It's promising signs for Starcy, but we feel, as though, we have a really good collective to get through the series.
Australia are currently 2-0 up in the five-match series.