Lyon’s bagful final tick as Aussies find their stride

A five-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon put a tick in one of the last unmarked boxes for Australian cricket.

Australia offspinner Nathan Lyon successfully appeals for an lbw decision to dismiss Pakistan’s Yasir Shah at Adelaide Oval. Picture: AFP

A five-wicket haul for Nathan Lyon put a tick in one of the last unmarked boxes for Australian cricket as the home side showed just how dominant they can be.

Monday’s Adelaide Advertiser, as loyal to the Test match as the locals, printed a double-sided poster celebrating the hero of the Adelaide Oval Test, David Warner. On one side an image of the cricketer celebrating one of the three hundreds of his innings on the other a sepia-toned recreation of the Evening News poster printed when Bradman made his 334 at Headingley: “WARNER BATS AND BATS AND BATS”.

The resuscitation of Warner’s Test career after a near-death experience in the Ashes is complete. He was named both man of the match after this dominant innings and 48-run win at Adelaide Oval and man of the series.

Lazarus has not only arisen from the dead, he’s breaking records at the Jerusalem games. The resurrection of the former vice-captain’s reputation awaits confirmation.

“I am very happy we didn’t have to bat again,” he said. “The legs are OK. You know we practised for that. I was very tired last night.

“I actually fell asleep on the couch. That happens, but all-in-all it was a great team performance and obviously winning by an innings two games in a row doesn’t really happen too often and an exceptional effort by the boys.”

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Warner is looking forward to the New Zealand series, which starts with a day-night Test at Perth Stadium on Thursday week. “We know every time they come across here it is always a good contest and a good battle,” he said.

The selection panel is set to announce a squad for the three-Test series against New Zealand some time on Tuesday. It is hard to remember a time this side of the early 2000s when places were so certain. The XI that played in Brisbane and Adelaide will be the XI that plays in Perth on December 12 if they remain fit.

BLOG: How day four unfolded

Australian cricket set out to achieve a few things before this series but the results, like Warner’s 335no, have exceeded expectation.

Winning against Pakistan was never a given, but losing could not have been contemplated.

Warner is back and almost unbearably chirpy after innings of 154 and 335no. The pairing of he and Joe Burns was so successful in Brisbane that Justin Langer suggested Marnus Labuschagne may like to drop down the order.

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Labuschagne dismissed the idea out of hand. He’d been waiting for a long time to bring the form he found in England in May and wasn’t going to wait a minute longer. He then peeled off 185 to snare the man of the match award and continued in that vein in Adelaide with 162 scored as part of a 361 partnership with Warner.

Burns was dismissed cheaply in the City of Churches, but such things happen to openers. He is not going anywhere just yet. He is especially not going anywhere when the only genuine threat to him, Cameron Bancroft, keeps coming up short.

Bancroft, who is part of the 14-man squad, has been caught in some variation of a leg trap in five out of six innings. Early in the sequence Langer sympathised with his bad luck, but by now the conclusion can only be that it is bad batting.

Will Pucovski, who would have been in the squad instead of Bancroft had he not left the Australia A game for mental health reasons, could possibly be included for the second half of the Test summer.

The highly fancied young batsman made 82 on return for Victoria in the game that finished in a draw on Monday and has the chance to play in next week’s game against WA at the MCG.

The leading wicket-taker in cricket this year, Pat Cummins, and his buddy from Bendameer, Josh Hazlewood aren’t going anywhere and any questions about Mitchell Starc have been answered.

Lyon was late to the party and suffered from a difficult back half of the Ashes due to a finger injury, but he arrived on Monday with critical wickets and would have had a few more had Marnus Labuschagne and Tim Paine not let him down.

The pink ball, so lethal at night and so tame during the day, allowed Pakistan to benefit for the second day running on Monday. Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq both scored half centuries against a ball that was soft and unresponsive.