Lyon Back In Contention for a ODI spot admits Smith

Australian skipper Steve Smith admits that off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s strong Test and BBL form has put himself back in contention for an ODI spot.

England crossed Australia’s target of 270 with 34 balls to spare in Brisbane on Friday to go 2-0 up in the five-game series.

Leg-spinner Adma Zampa exclusion raised a lot of speculations in a pitch where England spinner contributed to restricting Australia’s run flow. Former cricketers were critical of the decision to drop Zampa. Part-timers Aaron Finch and Travis Head didn’t get the desired purchase off the pitch.

Zampa career-worst figures of 0-72 in the series opener has put him under pressure to retain his post ahead of next year’s World Cup.

Australian selector Mark Waugh recently admitted that Lyon was “bowling too well to ignore”, while Smith said he deserved to be in discussions for a recall.

“I’m sure it’ll be talked about; he’s obviously had an exceptional summer with the red ball and he’s gone and started to bowl really well in the Big Bash.

“No doubt his name is going to continue to be talked about in one-day cricket,” Smith said.

However, Smith stressed that his teams’ problem is deeper than just spin bowling. Australia registered their 9th loss in the last 10 games.

Despite picking the extra batsman, Australia could only manage 62 from the last 11 overs and only debutant Alex Carey (27 from 24) striking above 100.

“I think in the last 10 games we’ve got ourselves into some reasonable positions and haven’t been able to take advantage of them, like today.

“We went in without the spinner on this occasion and tried to make our batting a little deeper and that obviously didn’t work as well as we would’ve liked. We’re still trying to find the right balance,” Smith signed off.

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