England Tour Has Been a Great Learning Curve And Opportunity for Bowlers: Nathan Lyon

Experienced Australian off-spinner, Nathan Lyon has backed the under-fire bowling line-up of his national team while admitted the fact that this tour will be a learning curve for the inexperienced side

Meanwhile, Australia finds themselves on the brink of a potential whitewash. The side will play their fifth and final game on June 24 at the Old Trafford in Manchester.

However, the bowlers, in particular, have come in for sharp criticism for their lack of incisiveness. So much so, the host smashed the totals of 342, 481, and 314 for four respectively in the series.

“I think it’s been a great learning curve and opportunity for all the bowlers,” Lyon said.

Lyon feels this hammering will help them learn to perform under pressure. With the 2019 World Cup in sight, he feels the bowlers have learned to compete under pressure from this tour.

“It’s been great for them to learn to perform under pressure because playing in a World Cup – what I want to do, what everyone else in this squad wants to do – that’s what you’re going to come up against, being under pressure. To compete and perform under pressure, that’s the biggest thing,” he added.

However, the Aussies are also missing three of their strike bowlers, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins due to injury.

Kane Richardson is the experienced campaigner in the current line-up with 17 ODIs.

On the other hand, the spin duo of Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar has combined to pick up just four wickets.

“If I can hopefully share my experiences, that can help turn their learning around quicker. I’ve been able to sit down with Ashton and Travis (Head) and D’Arcy Short and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) and just talk about spin bowling. It probably has been a big mentoring role in that side of things. I feel like it helps my game as well, talking about spin bowling,” he concluded.

Also read: Five most embarrassing defeats for India in ODIs