AUS vs ENG: Injury To Nathan Lyon Is... Michael Atherton's Big Statement On Australia Off-Spinner
Published - 22 Jul 2023, 04:08 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:15 AM
Former English cricketer Michael Atherton talked about the impact of Nathan Lyon’s injury on the team in the ongoing Ashes 2023. He correlated it with Glenn McGrath’s injury during the 2005 Ashes.
Nathan Lyon suffered an injury during the second Test of the Ashes at the Lord’s. The Australian spinner tore his calf muscle while fielding and didn’t bowl and field for the rest of the game. After the game, he went for scans and then was ruled out of the series.
Nathan’s Lyon absence has been quite evident as Australia has struggled to take wickets in the middle phase. The visitors won the first two games but they lost the third game and are struggling to pick wickets at Manchester. England batters have made a mockery of Australian pacers and have taken a solid first innings lead.
Michael Atherton explained how Australia are struggling in the absence of Nathan Lyon. He also elaborated on how the hosts can approach the game after being dominated on the Day 2 of the Test at Manchester. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:
Injury to Nathan Lyon is looking similar to that of Glenn McGrath in the ’05 Ashes, as significant as that. It seems clear that we are going to lose most of Saturday, but we may get most of Friday and Sunday.
“Try and build that lead till Lunch time tomorrow and then get Australia in because you need to get that ten wickets. You’re not too worried about batting last here because they don’t have a specialist spinner and it looks a very good pitch.”
Ashes 2023: “I think they (England) dialed down a bit after Lord’s,” says Michael Atherton
Michael Atherton further went on to point out that England has dialed down a bit after suffering the loss in the Lord’s. Talking about the same, he explained:
“I think they (England) dialed down a bit after Lord’s. They went too hard there and would have probably realized that they went a bit too far. Although they played super-aggressively here, not in a way that Brook was playing at Lord’s where he was backing away and slogging actually.”
England are in the driver’s seat in the ongoing Manchester Test. After they bundled out Australia for 317 runs, they batted extremely well and have taken a lead of over 150 runs.
