“There’s the real sense of calm out there when you know you’ve got someone that good,” says Australia captain Pat Cummins
Alex Malcolm03-Mar-20242:12
Cummins: Green as sharp as I have seen him
You couldn’t see the glint in Nathan Lyon’s eye behind his trademark tinted sunglasses, but you could tell it was there.It was there during his press conference after day three when he spoke with overwhelming confidence that Australia would create the seven chances necessary to win the Test match.It was there on the morning of day one when he ran his hand over the verdant Basin Reserve pitch and felt a dryness and hardness underneath that suggested sharp spin and bounce was on offer.Related
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He was right on both fronts, and he and Cameron Green were the chief architects of Australia’s 172-run win.Lyon put on a masterclass of offspin bowling on the fourth and final day, becoming just the 10th spinner to take 10 wickets in a match in New Zealand and only the third to do so in the long history of the Basin Reserve, behind two spin bowling luminaries in Muthiah Muralidaran and Australia’s current bowling coach Daniel Vettori.He also achieved the rare air of becoming just the third Test bowler to take five-wicket hauls in nine different countries behind Muralidaran and Shane Warne.You could not wipe the smile off Pat Cummins’ face after Lyon had spun his side to victory yet again.”Captain’s dream really,” Cummins said. “There’s the real sense of calm out there when you know you’ve got someone that good on a wicket that’s giving him a little bit of help.”You can get creative with some of the field placements knowing he’s going to land it exactly where you want it to. I thought he was brilliant over the last couple of days bouncing through a few different plans but just always felt like he was in control and always felt like we had Plan B, C, D that we could go to as well but never really felt like we had to. Yeah, an absolute dream.”Rachin Ravindra walks back disappointed after falling in Nathan Lyon’s trap•Getty ImagesThey tried plan B very briefly on the fourth morning with Lyon switching to the R.A. Vance stand end first up despite his first six wickets, and Glenn Phillips’ five, falling from the Southern end. The idea was to give Mitchell Starc a chance from the Southern end to see if he could swing the 41-over old ball with the help of a south-westerly breeze. But Starc was unable to find much movement, and Lyon was not extracting as much spin and bounce from the R.A Vance end and after two overs Cummins went back to plan A.It took Lyon three balls to break the game open from his preferred end. He found some extra bounce and Rachin Ravindra miscued a cut straight to point. Three balls later he had Tom Blundell caught at short leg for the second time in the match and the game was all but over.Lyon had forecast his plans in his press conference the night before. There was no secret sauce. He would bowl around the wicket with overspin and try and challenge the sticker of the bat with short leg and leg slip in place.ESPNcricinfo LtdNew Zealand knew the plan. They just could not throw him off it. Two balls into Lyon’s next over Phillips glanced one inches short of leg slip. Two balls later Phillips played back again to a quicker ball that spun sharply and was pinned plumb lbw.It had taken Lyon all of 22 balls on the fourth morning to take three wickets and get into New Zealand’s tail. He would pick up a sixth of the innings when Tim Southee holed out to long-on after deciding his defence was not good enough to withstand the pressure.It was a meek end from New Zealand. But it was a credit to the irrepressible and ageless Lyon. He has made no secret of the fact that he wants to keep playing until the end of the 2027 Ashes and his captain said he will continue in the job as long as Lyon is still going.”I’d love for him to keep going until 2027,” Cummins said. “I think the only barrier I think really is his body.”If he looks after his body and makes sure he’s right for whatever it is, 10 Test matches a year, I’d absolutely love if he was playing until 2027.”I don’t think there’s much that’s going to get in his way. I’ve already told him the day he retires I’m definitely giving up the captaincy because it makes my life a hell of a lot easier.”
