Nathan Lyon confident of coming back in Australia Test team after calf injury recovery

Sydney, Oct 25 (IANS) Australia’s veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon said he is confident of coming to the Test team ahead of the upcoming home summer after recovering from a calf injury sustained during the second Ashes Test in July this year.

Lyon, playing in his 100th consecutive Test match during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, pulled up sharply after running in to take a catch of Ben Duckett off the bowling of Cameron Green in the leg-side after tea in the 37th over.

Though he did face 13 balls with the bat and got a standing ovation from the crowd as Australia won the match at Lord’s, Lyon was diagnosed with a significant calf strain and eventually ruled out for rest of the series.

Since then, he’s been recovering back home and Lyon is now all set to play in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales against Victoria at the MCG from Thursday, with an eye to be available in time for Australia’s first Test of the 2023/24 home summer against Pakistan in Perth starting from December 14.

“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 summer which is going to be fantastic to be a part of,” said Lyon on SEN Radio.

With the ongoing Men’s ODI World Cup being at the centre of attention, Lyon believes there will be a “massive hole” left in the side when David Warner eventually decides to hang up his boots and agreed with Tim Paine that the left-handed opener is one of the greatest-ever white-ball batters coming from Australia.

“It’s hard not to agree. I don’t think we’re going to realise the effect that David’s had on Cricket Australia until he’s retired and the massive hole that is left. His numbers are absolutely incredible. So I tend to agree with ‘Painey’ that ‘Davey’ would be (the best), but if not definitely up there as the greatest white-ball batter for Australia, that’s for sure,” he concluded.