Inside the Gabba selection calls of Australia and captain Steve Smith to leave out Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins against Ben Stokes and England
This is the second day/night test in a row and Lyon, formerly one of the first names on the team sheet, has been left out in favor of an all-tempo attack for the second time in three games.
“Communication is always there, but I’m not in a position to sit down with the coach and George right now,” Lyon said.
Lyon were playing a different kind of ball before the first day’s match.Credit: Getty Images
“It will happen. I’m not the first player to miss a Test match and I won’t be the last. But yeah, obviously I’m quite demoralized because I know the role I can play in Australian cricket, especially at a venue like this.”
Test great Mark Waugh and former Test leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe said Australia made the wrong decision in dropping Lyon, while former skipper Ricky Ponting, Aaron Finch and Simon Katich expressed surprise at a pitching decision where the grass had been cut to just three millimetres.
Although Lyon bowled just two overs in the tempo-dominated Perth Test, he has a strong record at the Gabba, taking 52 wickets in under 29 overs, and has 43 wickets at 25.63 with the pink ball.
“It’s no secret that this is a place where I absolutely love playing cricket and I feel like I’ve got a good record here, I’ve gotten a lot of bounce there,” Lyon said. “I felt Wicket would give me a bit of a bounce, but I would like to see what Jacks does.”
Australian coach Andrew McDonald and stand-in captain Steve Smith.Credit: Getty Images
Bailey emphasized that Lyon’s omission depended on the circumstances, as in the third test against the West Indies in Jamaica.
“It’s very much a one-Test decision; Nath will play in Adelaide,” Bailey said.
“When you think about how you will structure resources and how they will be used, when it gets dark here, when you think about using seam bowlers, how many times you will bowl in the day, when you think about finding the new ball, that kind of thing.”
Commenting on Kayo Sports, O’Keeffe could not understand Lyon’s relegation decision.
“I can’t accept a spinner not being picked on the dry Australian pitch,” O’Keeffe said. “I know it’s a day night with the pink ball but I just can’t accept it, I’m sorry.”
Waugh said it was an “unnecessary” move.
“It looks like a good batting surface so I predict it will be a tough task for the seamers once the ball gets over 30 to 40 and we know England like to play an aggressive style of play so you need to vary the tempo of the innings and the tempo of your bowling,” Waugh said.
Although Cummins was initially left out of the squad, he began calculations for this Test later in the week as he progressed through the final stages of his recovery plan. He has reached a point where the selectors are looking into how many overs he can bowl and whether that will be enough without forcing other quick batsmen.
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Cummins, who has now moved on to bowling on consecutive days, bowled in the nets in the afternoon.
“If you’re gonna bowl ’em here [in the nets]Could it be there? [out on the field]?” Bailey said.
“The key factors were: What does that look like going forward and are you highlighting that risk going forward and what are the things that can’t be controlled in a game? Does that put other players under pressure?”
“This is a point we cannot give up. That would mean too many overshoots.”
The selectors erred cautiously, giving Cummins the best part of another fortnight to establish the conditions for a Test return.
“That’s one of them – the longer the better – and whenever we decide to play, it definitely means being in a really controlled environment in the nets, where you can really structure around breaks and how you want it,” Bailey said.
“There’s a risk that when you go into games there are some things you can control and some things are out of your control.”
Bailey was noncommittal about the future of opener Usman Khawaja, who batted in the nets on Thursday.
“He felt it a lot, because it was a feeling of guilt, it was your own performance, but when you get injured and you feel like you let the team down, I think that was something he was conscious of,” Bailey said. “It would be a terrible feeling if it happened again. Leaving it out gives time to rectify the situation and grow from there.”
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