Sydney Sixers ready to wait for Nathan Lyon’s return to Big Bash
Now Australia have sewn up the series against New Zealand, Nathan Lyon is free to rejoin his Sydney teammates - but the Sixers won’t rush Australia’s greatest off spinner’s return.
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AS much as they’d love him back straight away, the Sydney Sixers say they are happy to wait until the GOAT’s ready to return to Big Bash.
Nathan Lyon will be available to rejoin the high-flying Sixers as soon possible now Australia’s final Test against New Zealand has finished but coach Greg Shipperd said the joint competition leaders will let him make the call on when he switches to T20.
His return may be complicated by a thumb injury he sustained in bagging his first five-wicket haul at the SCG so there will be no pressure on him to slip into his magenta uniform until he feels ready.
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“(He’s available) once the Test match finishes but we’ll probably assess how his thumb’s going and whether he’s ready to roll into this,’ Shipperd told The Daily Telegraph.
“Who knows he might be ready to go, it might mean a game’s grace to get himself settled and reorganised and bang into it.
“It’s been a long Summer for him and I did notice the nick on his thumb so we haven’t had any correspondence around him yet but to have him come back into the group is obviously a huge bonus for us.”
The Sixers’ next match is against the Strikers in Adelaide on Wednesday then they travel to Melbourne to play the Stars on Sunday.
Australia’s greatest off spinner has been restricted to fleeting appearances for the Sixers because of his commitment to the national side but is set to play the rest of the Big Bash season after being left out of the one-day tour to India.
With Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood also likely to be available for the finals, the Sixers are looming as one of the favourites to take the title after winning five of their first sevens matches to join the Stars at the top of the table and Shipperd said the competition for spots in the team was becoming intense.
“We’re already having to make some tough decisions,” he said.
“We’ve got guys like Ben Manenti, whose taken six wickets and bowled for overs for 21 runs in his last game and we had to leave him out.
“Then we’ve Steven O’Keefe, who’s fit again and raring to go and is one of our best bowlers historically, so it’s tough because we’ve got a lot of really good bowlers but we cant play them all. ”
Meanwhile, Sixers’ wicket keeper Josh Philippe has admitted he wouldn’t have been surprised or upset if his controversial run out of Adelaide Strikers’ all-rounder Matt Short was given not out because he knew he dropped the ball before he hit the stumps.
The officiating in this year’s Big Bash is already under fire because of the unavailability of DRS to correct wrong decisions and the bizarre case of an umpire changing his mind and scratching his nose.
The latest blunder has only added to the complaints with fans already taking to social media asking how Short could possibly have been given out when he failed to make it back to his crease after a mix up with his batting partner Jonathan Wells.
Replays showed Philippe losing control of the ball just before he knocked off the bails with his gloves which meant Short should have stayed but the third umpire still ruled that he was out.
Philippe admitted he dropped the ball but said everything happened so quickly he wasn’t sure whether that was before or after he made contact with the stumps.
“I knew I didn’t quite have it but I guess I kind of dragged it onto the stumps. That’s how it felt, but I wasn’t sure,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“The video looked a bit inconclusive but to be honest I was unsure.
“I thought I might have put it on, I thought I might not have, it was 50-50.”
The one thing Philippe was sure about was that he would have accepted the decision without complaint if it had gone against him
“That’s why we have this amazing technology, isn’t It? To hopefully get it right,” he said.
“Either way, if it wasn’t out I wouldn’t have been disappointed or upset because I actually didn’t know.”
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Philippe went on to blast an unbeaten 83 off 52 balls as the Sixers’ overhauled Adelaide’s total of 6-176 with three balls to spare in a thriller at Coffs Harbour.
Earmarked as a future international, the 22-year-old has quickly become a target for opposition bowlers since bursting into the spotlight but Sixers coach Greg Shipperd said his latest stunner was proof he wasn’t just a quick scorer but a quick learner as well.
“I think teams are really zeroing in on strategies around him so he’s probably getting served up a different diet of balls on different lengths and on different lines so he’s having to make small adjustments to that but he’s got the recipe right,” Shipperd said.
“And there’s still room for improvement. He’s tinkering with a few little technical things that would make him even better as well so we’re looking forward to seeing that unfold in the games to come. ”