Former England captain Michael Vaughan opined on the potential loss of Nathan Lyon for the rest of the ongoing second Ashes 2023 Test at Lord’s due to calf injury and he believes this is going to be a big blow to Australia. However, he was seen holding his right calf in pain after trying to grab a catch at fine-leg in the final session on Day 2 before being taken off the field immediately as well. Lyon currently has 496 Test wickets, eighth all-time, and he is set to become only the fourth spinner to scale the 500-wicket mark as well.
Speaking to Cricbuzz at stumps on Day 2, Vaughan said: “A huge loss. Especially If England can win here, it’s not going to be easy as they’re going to bat last even though England are a good chasing team, but if they can win here and take it to Leeds 1-1, it looks like Nathan’s going to be struggling for at least the next week or so.”
However, Lyon became just the sixth cricketer and the first bowler to play in 100 consecutive Tests during the Lord’s Test as well. And, Vaughan believes that the recent success of Todd Murphy and Travis Head as a part-time spinner could help them as well.
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“The lucky thing for Australia is that Todd Murphy is a good off-spinner. So they’ve got a lifeline with him as a replacement. He did well in India so he’s not Nathan Lyon but he is a decent off-spinner. I look at Travis Head on this kind of surface, the way he fires them in, he’ll be handy in the second innings.”But Nathan Lyon, so close to that 500th wicket, a brilliant bowler and not just in terms of getting wickets but he holds an end as well for the team and allows Pat Cummins to rotate his seamers from the other end. Also scores a few handy runs, brilliant in the field so a huge loss,” Vaughan further added.
While the duration of Nathan Lyon’s absence due to the injury isn’t confirmed yet, Australia will certainly look to 22-year-old Todd Murphy for the third Test at Leeds as well. However, Murphy was the fourth leading wicket-taker in the Border Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, with 14 wickets in four Tests.
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“It’s only in cricket where someone gets injured so badly like that and it affects the game. Any other sport you can get the subs up and replace them. We have concussion replacement but when someone gets a genuine injury in the first innings of the game, Is cricket behind the trend of other sports? Jimmy Anderson the first day of the Ashes in 2019 so maybe a substitute should be allowed like other sports,” concluded Vaughan.
