Lyon has created a three-headed spin monster

Australia’s second greatest wicket-taker finally has the support to take down the subcontinent giants on their own soil.

Nathan Lyon wants to leave spin bowling in a better place than he found it. He doesn’t say so himself. It’s not his style to do so. But it comes through loud and clear whenever you speak to Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann about their relationship with the man who doubles up as their role model and mentor.

Neither can stop gushing about how much it has meant for them to have Lyon both in their corner and ear since they walked into the Australian dressing-room two years ago in India.

On Saturday afternoon, the three combined to orchestrate one of Australia’s most comprehensive Test wins in Asia, sharing 17 wickets in 99 overs between them. This wasn’t a raging turner. Not a dust bowl. But it was the second win in three Tests on the subcontinent for Australia, after Indore 2023, where the three of them had combined on a pitch which had a lot in it for the spinners. They complement each other perfectly by creating pressure, sowing doubt and exerting control.

Matthew Kuhnemann took nine wickets in Australia’s record victory in Galle Picture: AFP

While Lyon himself finished with seven wickets in the Test, the real star of the show was Kuhnemann, whose trickery was mixed nicely with his subtle changes in trajectory. It was just the kind of simplicity blended with variety when it comes to setting up batters that Lyon has mastered over the years across multiple tours to the subcontinent. It was evident how impressed Lyon was with his fellow spinner, making sure he was there to congratulate the 28-year-old after each wicket.

Nathan Lyon successfully appeals for leg before wicket against Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews Picture: AFP

“He wants to continue see us young spinners develop and when the time comes, we’re ready to take his place. It’s a really cool relationship from my point of view. A lot of times young spinners come in and they don’t have anyone to lean on. I’ve been lucky that every tour I’ve been on, Nath’s been there to touch base with,” is what Murphy had told me in an interview a few days out from the first Test.

Todd Murphy, left, with Nathan Lyon in Galle Picture: Getty Images

Though Murphy wasn’t used as much as the other two, he did show his wares in knocking out the veteran Dimuth Karunaratne with the slider that he troubled every Indian batter with in his maiden Test outing in 2023. If development is what Lyon seeks from his younger colleagues, he would have seen plenty of that in the way they went about executing their skills in Galle. They looked ready to take on the mantle, not that Lyon is in any hurry to leave the Test arena. To start with, he’s been very vocal about wanting to continue on until at least 2027, when he’ll get a chance to set the record straight in both India and England, where he’s never been a part of a series-winning Australian team. The next Border Gavaskar Trophy played might be a good two years away, but time seemingly passes quicker on the cricketing calendar, and we’ll be there before you know it. The Lyon-Murphy-Kuhnemann triumvirate will be right at the forefront of making sure that Australia hold on to the trophy, and probably even go one step further and beat India in India for the first time in more than two decades.

For over a decade now, the Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood pace nexus has been heralded rightly as the demolition force that Australia have relied on heavily for success at home and also on tours outside the subcontinent, with Lyon of course weaving his magic at the other end. But in the three-pack spin attack led by Lyon, they might well have found their kryptonite to thwart the strong subcontinental teams in their den.

Murphy celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka's veteran opener Dimuth Karunaratne Picture: AFP

To his credit, the greatest off-spinner to play for Australia, and probably the best finger spinner ever, has also kept his end of the bargain. He’s never failed to talk up Murphy and Kuhnemann, and even the other spinners coming through the ranks at every opportunity. Only 10 days ago, he was on TV during a rain break in the BBL, singing the praises of his two partners in crime in Sri Lanka, along with the likes of Corey Rocchicciioli and Lloyd Pope. He wants spin bowling to be in a better place.

Where was Australian spin bowling when Lyon emerged on the scene, literally from nowhere and made his debut in Galle nearly 14 years ago. It was a period where it felt like Australia were throwing every spinner they could find in Shield cricket against the wall, more in hope than conviction. All sorts of them too. Off-spinners, left-arm spinners, leg-spinners, the whole gamut. Lyon was the only one that stuck – and how. It began with the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara off his first ball in August 2011 in front of the Dutch Fort in Galle, and on Australia’s all-time wicket list he only lags behind the greatest ever in the late Shane Warne. This despite having never had a spinner to lean on to learn and upgrade his craft.

Murphy and Kuhnemann have been far more fortunate.