Australia end silence on shock Nathan Lyon axe for 3rd West Indies Test as historic milestone put on hold

Hindustan Times

13-07-2025

In a shocking move, Australia dropped veteran spinner Nathan Lyon, who stood on the brink of history, from the playing XI for the third Test match against the West Indies in Kingston, as the tourists opted for a rare all-pace attack. Breaking the silence on the selection call that raised many eyebrows, national selector Tony Dodemaide explained that it was merely a data-driven decision. Nathan Lyon (R) of Australia walks off the field during the 2nd day of the 2nd Test between West Indies and Australia(AFP)
On Friday, captain Pat Cummins hinted that Australia had yet to narrow in on their playing XI, which strongly suggested that team management was contemplating dropping Lyon for the Pink Ball Test. The speculations turned true on Saturday, when Cummins confirmed the line-up at the toss, with Scott Boland replacing Lyon.
"Pink ball, so it's a little bit different to a normal Test," Cummins explained at the toss.
This was Boland's first appearance in the format since the New Year's Test this year against India in Sydney. And for Lyon, this was the first time he was dropped from the playing XI since the 2023 Ashes for a reason other than injury.
Nathan Lyon was 'disappointed'
Speaking to the reporters in Kingston, Dodemaide explained that the stat-based call was a 'one-off', before confessing that Lyon, who stands just two wickets away from surpassing Glenn McGrath's career tally of 563 scalps and becoming the highest Test wicket-taker in Australian history, was "disappointed" by the decision.
"He wants to play every game," Dodemaide said. "He's a great competitor, and he believes he can be effective in any conditions, but he's a team man as well. Understands the right thing for the team, and he'll do his best to support the guys. But I said it's a one-off. It's no reflection on performance for Nathan, it's simply the best way we think we can win this game. It's not something we generally want to do, and, fair to say, certainly wasn't front of mind when we first got here."
Lyon boasts of an incredible record in Pink Ball Tests, taking 43 wickets at 25.62, with only teammate Mitchell Starc having more wickets than him in this variety of the format. But all those matches came at home, in Australia, with the Kookaburra pink. In the West Indies, it is the pink Duke's ball that is used. And the country hosted just one Day/Night Test match before, back in 2018, against Sri Lanka, where 32 of 34 wickets were picked up by the fast bowlers.
"(The) limited data that we have on particularly the pink Duke's ball, we know that from the data that it actually behaves a little differently to the Kookaburra one, it doesn't go as soft," Dodemaide continued.
"The history tells us that, and that's been our lived experience when we've been here for the past couple of days in terms of the practice sessions that we've had.
"Based on all of that, we thought that spin would not really have a significant part in the game."
Talking about the match, opting to bat first, Australia lost seven wickets for 68 runs in a dramatic collapse on Day 1 of the match as they got bundled for 225 runs at Sabina Park. West Indies finished the day on 16 for one — 209 runs behind — after Australia's Mitchell Starc bowled Kevlon Anderson off the inside edge in the pacer's 100th test.