Veteran Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2023 Ashes series. He suffered a calf strain during the recently concluded second Test match at The Lord’s, London. Cricket Australia has not named Nathan Lyon’s replacement for the remaining three Tests.
During the Lord’s Test, Nathan Lyon suffered the injury while fielding in the first innings on day two. He did not take the field, following the injury, and was also seen with crutches. However, he showed great courage and came out to bat in the second innings for Australia, despite the injury. The off-spinner did not bowl in the last innings of the Test, but Australia won the game by 43 runs.
Nathan Lyon is Australia’s second-leading Test wicket-taker, with 495 scalps to his name. The Lord’s test was his 100th consecutive Test match. He is only the sixth player in Test history to achieve this feat and the only bowler. He has never missed a Test due to injury since his Test debut. The only other time he has not played a Test for Australia was when he was omitted for the first two Tests of the 2013 Ashes.
JUST IN: The Aussies have named their squad ahead of the third #Ashes Test, beginning Thursday https://t.co/GXPv59jyMM
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 3, 2023
Todd Murphy is likely to replace Nathan Lyon
With Nathan Lyon unavailable for the remainder of the series, Todd Murphy is the favourite to replace the veteran spinner. Murphy has played four Tests so far for Australia, taking 14 wickets at an average of 25.21, including a five-wicket haul. The third Test begins at Headingley, Leeds on July 6. Ahead of the match, Australian coach Andrew McDonald said,
“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.”
Australia squad for third Test: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
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