NEWS
Follow UsAt the age of 36, Nathan Lyon is already one of the greatest spinners in Test cricket, with 530 wickets to his name. Not only has he been a terrific wicket-taking bowler in favorable conditions, but he also provided a kind of impact in unhelpful conditions like England, Australia, and South Africa.
But he doesn’t seem very satisfied with his career yet and wants to bow away from the sport, having won an Ashes in England in 2027. To give wings to those aspirations, he landed in Manchester ahead of Lancashire's season opener against Surrey and will be available for seven of the club's first nine County Championship matches in what will be his second county stint.
"I've got basically no cricket until October when the (Sheffield) Shield season starts back with NSW and then the first Test match is in November in Perth," Lyon told the Willow Talk podcast before departing for the UK.
"I looked at this opportunity to take the family over there and experience living in the UK for a little bit, but also to try and improve my skillset a little bit as well. There is another Ashes Test series away from home still on the radar, and trying to win that is one of my goals, so I can go over there and learn and understand how the English guys go about it.
"Playing in their set-up is going to be really unique for me to see what a county game plan is. And I'm more than happy to pass on my knowledge (to) also help a couple of spinners over there if they want help,” the 36-year-old New South Wales off-spinner added.
In the county championship, Lyon will team up with James Anderson – with whom he has had a pretty interesting rivalry thanks to Ashes – apart from Tom Hartley, who had a terrific debut series against India in India.
"I'm looking forward to getting over to Lancashire and meeting Tom, bowling with him and just having discussions – left-arm orthodox and right-arm offies are a pretty similar craft," Lyon said.
"I'll be pretty cool – I'll bowl from Jimmy Anderson's end and he'll have to come from the changerooms. (I'm) looking forward to having a couple of games with Jimmy, which would be pretty unique – he's over 700 Test wickets, I'm over 500, it's pretty amazing."
