Nathan Lyon on pink-ball snub after being left out of Mitchell Starc’s 100th Test vs West Indies

Nathan Lyon is confident he still has a role to play in pink-ball Tests despite being dumped from the Australian side for close mate Mitchell Starc’s 100th Test.

Nathan Lyon says he is convinced his shock omission for the Jamaica Test was a one-off but concedes he was particularly disappointed to be dropped for the milestone match of his close friend Mitchell Starc.

The off-spinner, who is just one scalp away from drawing level with Glenn McGrath as Australia’s second-highest Test taker, was axed for the third and final Test in the West Indies earlier this month when national selectors favoured a four-strong pace attack, including Scott Boland at Lyon’s expense.

It was the first time Lyon had been dropped for a Test since 2013.

The panel’s bold call proved vindicated when Australia completed a 176-run win inside three days, bowling the Windies out for 27 in their second innings with Boland taking a hat-trick.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins left the door ajar after the match for the ploy to be used again, but Lyon said he was confident that the specific set of circumstances – a pink Duke’s ball and a larger than usual proportion of overs under lights because of Kingston’s relatively early sunset – meant he would not be looking over his shoulder for Australia’s next day-night Test at the Gabba in December.

Nathan Lyon was dropped for the pink-ball Test in the West Indies.

“I honestly feel like that’s a one-off thing. I feel like day-night Test cricket, there’s what, five sessions in the night, and there’s still 10 sessions in the day in which spin plays a massive role,” Lyon told this masthead on Tuesday ahead of a Melbourne Renegades sponsor function.

“So I feel like there’s still a lot of cricket being played in a lot of roles for spinners within pink ball. So I think that’s just a one-off occasion.”

Lyon says he had seen warning signs in the days leading up to the Test, so was less surprised than most about his omission.

“I’ve been around long enough so I can kind of read the room a little bit. So yeah, I wasn’t surprised when I got told, (and) I understood what they were thinking. But yeah still disappointed,” Lyon said.

It was especially hard to stomach given it was the 100th Test of Starc, arguably Lyon’s closest friend in the Australian team.

“Obviously, I was disappointed to miss out on the Test match. That’s purely because I believe I can play a role in any conditions, anywhere in the world,” Lyon said.

“But also to miss out on Starcy’s 100th Test match, to walk out there with him would have been amazing, but all in all the guys played exceptional and won the series three-nil. So can’t complain on that front.”

Lyon and Starc celebrate a wicket.

Lyon, 37, said the pill had been made slightly easier to swallow by the fact his place was being taken by the rampant Boland.

“If I’m ever going to miss a game, Scott Boland is probably the guy that you want to see go in there and do well. Scotty, he’s an incredible cricketer, but he’s even better bloke. So yeah, I’m pretty happy to see him go out there and perform the way he did. So all in all, I think the whole bowling group were pretty impressive over the whole series.”

With his sights now firmly set on England this summer, Lyon opted not to cast judgment on the tensions in the recent England-India Test, but envisaged that pre-series posturing around acceptable behaviour were part and parcel of the build-up to any Ashes series.

“I’ve been around long enough, I’ve seen a lot of it, but they’re coming out here, and it’s going to be an exciting summer. They’re building the theatre behind it already. That’s going to be all good fun.”

Originally published as Nathan Lyon on pink-ball snub after being left out of Mitchell Starc’s 100th Test vs West Indies