Second Test: Nathan Lyon sounds warning to England lefties after destroying Bangladeshi southpaws
NATHAN Lyon has put England’s seven left-handed batsmen on high alert after feasting on four Bangladeshi southpaws in Chittagong.
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NATHAN Lyon is primed to become the southpaw slayer this Ashes summer, after feasting on Bangladeshi left-handers saved Pat Cummins from melting in the Chittagong heat.
The record-breaking off-spinner went on an lbw rampage to pocket his third five-wicket haul in as many Tests, sending an ominous warning to an England side planning to turn up at the gates of the Gabba fortress with no less than seven lefty batsmen in their order.
However, Australia’s face-saving mission remains in the balance after Bangladesh fought back hard on day one to be 6-253 at stumps and leaving irreplaceable fast bowler Cummins battling heat illness in the oppressive conditions as the temperature hit 33 degrees.
Cummins (17 overs) returned to the field in the last session but the normally lethal weapon looked completely cooked in his final spell and captain Steve Smith must now be on high alert to not break the 23-year-old as the only sole fast bowler picked in Australian attack in 40 years — after selectors went in with a three-pronged spin attack.
Lyon bagged outstanding figures of 5-77 off a marathon 28 overs, with under-siege wicketkeeper Matt Wade also responding to conjecture over his spot in the team.
Lyon, who got out four of the Bangladesh top five, admits the heat and humidity made it the toughest day in the field he’s ever experienced, and even tougher for Cummins, the one man Australia can’t afford to lose before they face England.
“That’s up there with the hardest Test match cricket days I’ve ever had,” said Lyon.
“This would be my 69th Test match and I don’t think I’ve been tested like that physically. The pitch was pretty good, to be fair, there’s not much spin there at all. I think I bowled four straight ones early and all hit the pads.
“(The heat) is just one of those things. This is why we do pre-season. You want to test yourself in the hardest conditions and see how you react.
“Patty is an unbelievable cricketer. He’s been sitting in the ice bath for the last 30 minutes but he’ll bounce back. We’ll bounce back.
“We’ll all sleep well tonight, do all our recovery.
“Me and Patty spoke about needing to be the spearheads for the bowling attack and lead from the front.
“I thought we bowled very well to start the day. In these conditions Patty felt the heat nice and early and so did I, but I thought we bowled OK to take six wickets on a pretty docile wicket.
“We got a bit fatigued in the later end of the day and gave too many free hits away.”
Wade played no small part with a great catch plus off Ashton Agar plus a superb leg-side stumping off Wade to break an ominous 100-run Bangladeshi partnership late in the day.
If Australia can find a way to strike out Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (62 not out) they should leave Bangladesh will short for their first innings, after the hosts won the toss and batted on a low, slow pitch far where a total of 370 would seem about par.
This time last year Lyon limped out of a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka and was set to be axed for the home Test summer against South Africa and Pakistan, only to hold on by the skin of his teeth.
However, in anticipation of the upcoming Ashes blockbuster, Lyon has hit career-best form in the subcontinent and captain Steve Smith is ready to unleash his man-eating spinner on England’s wobbly bats after four of his victims yesterday were lefties.
“England probably have a lot of left-handers,” said Smith.
“I don’t want to go into that too much, but I dare say Nathan Lyon is going to play a pretty important role there.”
With that resounding endorsement ringing in his ears, Lyon went out and defied the blazing heat and sapping humidity to fire through Bangladesh’s defences with figures of 4-35 from his first 15 overs and set up a solid platform for Australia to avoid the chastening low of plummeting to No.6 on the world rankings.
It was rather symbolic that Lyon charged past Jason Gillespie’s mark of 259 Test wickets on the all-time list on the same Chittagong ground that the man they call Dizzy smashed that unforgettable double hundred back in 2006.
Lyon, who last week surged past 250 wickets, is in unstoppable form as he rockets up the charts as Australia’s seventh-leading wicket-taker, with Craig McDermott (291) his next target on the road to the magic 300 mark.
Last year the Australians questioned Lyon’s effectiveness on subcontinental pitches, but he is now rapidly climbing the list of most successful non-Asian bowlers in Asian conditions — with 74 wickets taking him past Graeme Swann and closer to the likes of Shane Warne (127) and Daniel Vettori (98).
Steve O’Keefe’s incredible return to Test cricket was more underwhelming, as he was dispatched for figures of 0-70 off 20 overs with no maidens.
Agar was better and bowled six maidens, 1-46 from his 17.
The Bangladesh top four that caused Australia so much grief in the first Test, were marched back to the pavilion one after the other, all lbw Lyon — as the home side went to tea at 5-155.
Under enormous pressure to make-up for the embarrassment of losing so badly to Bangladesh last week, Lyon took it upon himself to save Australia the series after the hosts received a big leg-up by winning the toss and batting first.
Australia instantly had their work cut out for them on a low, slow wicket that offered nowhere near as much turn or bounce as the first Test track in Dhaka — yet the bowlers needed results to help negate the disadvantage of the batters needing to likely bat last to win the match.
Cummins bowled superbly early and should have had the first wicket of the day, only for Glenn Maxwell to shell a relative sitter at third slip to give opener Tamim Iqbal a reprieve.
Skipper Smith could not hide his despair at the Maxwell drop, angrily kicking the dirt as his emotions got the better of him in a regrettable reaction.
However, Lyon instantly made up for the error without any real damage on the scoreboard as he trapped first-Test run-maker Tamim in front.
Without spin and bounce to work with, Lyon simply went back to a basic game plan of bowling at the stumps — and it reaped the rewards.
His second victim Imrul Kayes was the highlight, mainly due to the fact the appeal was turned down on-field before captain Smith lodged a brilliant referral to earn his side another crucial breakthrough in the torrid conditions.
A third for Lyon on the stroke of lunch was another huge moment, as was Agar’s injection in the 47th over when he had first Test man of the match and the world’s leading all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan caught behind.
After one of the most testing weeks of his Test career, Matthew Wade — spared the axe — responded with an excellent sharp catch behind the stumps.
Smith waited until the over before tea to give all-rounder Hilton Cartwright a bowl, as the youngster was carted for two boundaries.
The big concern was the workload of Ashes key man Cummins, who without a fast bowling ally, had got through 14 overs by tea.
SECOND TEST DAY ONE SCOREBOARD
Bangladesh 1st Innings
Tamim Iqbal lbw Lyon 9
Soumya Sarkar lbw Lyon 33
Imrul Kayes lbw Lyon 4
Mominul Haque lbw Lyon 31
Shakib Al Hasan c Wade b Agar 24
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 62
Sabbir Rahman st Wade b Lyon 66
Nasir Hossain not out 19
Extras: (5b) 5.
TOTAL: (For 6 Wickets) 253.
Overs: 90.
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-21, 3-70, 4-85, 5-117, 6-222.
Still to bat: Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman. Bowling: Pat Cummins 17-4-33-0, Nathan Lyon 28-6-77-5, Steve O’Keefe 20-0-70-0, Ashton Agar 17-6-46-1, Glenn Maxwell 3-0-6-0, Hilton Cartwright 5-1-16-0. Toss: Bangladesh.
Umpires: Ian Gould and Nigel Llong, England.
Third Umpire: Aleem Dar, Pakistan. Match Referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.
Originally published as Second Test: Nathan Lyon sounds warning to England lefties after destroying Bangladeshi southpaws
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