Urn turns away from England after squandering his merits

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As England drops their element, Australia celebrates their element

By Will MacPherson at Lord’s

The contrast was amazing. With England dropping their spinner, Moeen Ali, one match back after a two-year red-ball retirement, Australia’s Nathan Lyon plays his 100th consecutive Test.

Lyon would become just the sixth man to play 100 Tests in a row, but impressively the first. The next most consecutive Test for a bowler is 60 only, by India’s Anil Kumble. There is a symmetry with Leon’s arrival at the Master at Lourdes. The audition here a decade ago, when teenager Ashton Agar was Australia’s spinner, was the last time Lyon missed it.

Having taken eight wickets at Edgbaston, Lyon is on the verge of an important milestone: he is five shy of 500 Test runs. Only seven men stand before him on that list.

It has been a long time since Australia considered going into a match without Lyon, an avid hard worker who remembers being desperate to play with his right-handed team mates on tour in 2013 in order to improve.

“I think it’s a testament to not only how good Nathan is in terms of longevity, physique and form, but to be able to play 100 (consecutive) Tests means you get picked in all circumstances,” said his captain, Pat Cummins.

“I know early in his career I might have talked about four quick runs at the Gabba, but he’s so valuable to our team I couldn’t imagine a team without Nath there.

“So I saw they (England) went with four quick shots, which is probably as we expected after seeing Moeen get injured last week. But I feel really lucky we got Nathan.

“100th Test match in a row, 500 Test runs, it’s incredible all the milestones he keeps hitting. This is a really special place in cricket but also for Australia we’ve had some success on that field in recent years so yeah, success Great for a memory bank.”

England did not hide its strategy of attacking Lyon. At Edgbaston, they had mixed success. They managed to score in four runs, but lost eight wickets, including three stumped, and Johnny Bairstow’s sweeper reverse.

“If they want to try and continue in that direction, he’s someone who thinks a lot about the game, in terms of different ways of taking wickets and getting better,” said Mitchell Stark on Monday.

“The fact that he has played 100 consecutive Test matches, and that he is the only player to do so, is very special and I know he is very proud of that. I know he has gone from 400 to 495 in quick time, and it speaks to his ability to adapt to different circumstances and opponents and the way they want to play with.

“England’s approach is theirs, but he will continue to read the game and adapt, which is what has made him such a successful player for such a long period of time.”

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