Australia is on a journey of becoming a great team, that's our end goal: Lyon

Galle, Feb 3 (IANS) Veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon believes the current Test team is still on their way to achieving greatness in the longer format, something which he said is their end goal.

Australia began their tour of Sri Lanka with a thumping win – coming by an innings and 242 runs in the series opener at Galle, which arrived just after they reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 3-1 triumph over India.

"I was having a beer with Mitch Starc (post-game) and we spoke about that. I feel like that's a lot of motivation within this team. It's about us on our journey to becoming a great team, to make sure we go 2-0 up. We're on that journey; we're not there yet but that's our end goal.

"We want to be known as a great team, and part of that journey is when we close a window making sure we nail it shut, and we don’t let anyone back in. This is only me and my thoughts, but we've got some great players within that changeroom.

"You look at Smithy (Steve Smith) bringing up 10,000 runs, you've got Starcy who's around the corner from 100 Test matches. And it's not just the guys here, we've got some unbelievable players at home as well whether injured or on paternity leave. It's a squad mentality and that's how it should be," said Lyon to reporters on Monday.

He also pointed out that Australia are yet to win the Ashes in England and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India, something that can happen in 2027. "There's a few things (Australia needs to achieve). This is only me and my thoughts as well. We've got some great players within that change-room, there's no point hiding behind that.

Lyon has so far bowled with fellow offspinner Todd Murphy and left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, and feels the young spinners can become good in future.

"We're going okay, but I still feel like we've got a lot of improvement to do. That's about being ruthless. We're three totally different bowlers with three totally different mindsets as well. I feel like I'm learning off Todd and Matt, and I feel like they're pushing me to try and get better as well. Hopefully I'm passing on a little bit of knowledge here and there.

Lyon, who took seven wickets in Galle, signed off by saying he still feels some pain in his left hip, an injury he picked in the home summer. "But I didn't have to land on it today, so all good. Apparently, I ripped the deep tissue off the fascia [hip muscle], whatever that means. There was a bit of excess blood or something in there. Not ideal, but all good now," he concluded.