Steve Smith has elaborated on Australia’s decision to leave out Nathan Lyon from their dominant eight-wicket win over England in Brisbane.

Lyon, who has taken 562 red-ball wickets at the top level, was a shock omission from Smith’s side for the second Test as selectors prioritised the inclusion of bowling all-rounder Michael Neser as a fifth seam option.

It meant that for the first time since 2012, the country’s greatest-ever off-spinner would miss a Test on home soil in a move that he admitted left him “absolutely filthy”.

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The quartet of Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett and Neser took 19 of England’s 20 wickets convincingly across the match, with Josh Inglis’ epic run-out of Ben Stokes the only exception. Batting all-rounder Cam Green also bowled 13 overs throughout the match, but went wicketless.

As stand-in skipper Smith reaffirmed post-game, Lyon’s absence was not in the slightest to do with his skill set.

“It could have gone a few different ways, and it’s certainly nothing against Nathan. He’s a freak,” Smith said post-match.

“He’s been our spinner for such a long time, but the extra batting and the way the tail hung in for 50 overs gave us the balance we were after.

“(Neser) offers something different. We can bring the keeper up, he hits the stumps, he keeps things tight, and forces batters to take risks when the ball isn’t as quick or is skidding.

“But it’s nothing against Nathan. He’s unbelievable and he’s done it for so long.”

At the coin toss on Day 1, Smith added on Lyon’s omission: “With no daylight savings here, you play in the night a lot. We thought that’s going to be the best (chance) to take 20 wickets in this particular fixture.”

The glovework of Alex Carey proved a critical player in the ultimate success of Neser throughout the match, with his continued keeping up to the stumps off the bowling of both Neser and Boland preventing England batters from batting further down the wicket to negate their metronomic bowling.

The particular wickets of Zak Crawley and Stokes in the second innings came as a direct result of Carey and Neser combining for dismissals in a way they haven’t usually been able to do before.

Stokes falls to Carey & Neser magic | 01:16

After taking one wicket in the first innings, Neser ran riot in the second dig to claim his maiden Test five-wicket haul and catapult Australia to a 2-nil Ashes lead.

Retrospectively, given the result, it is hard to criticise the decision of chief selector George Bailey and his colleagues, though now another intriguing selection call looms for Australia heading into the third Test in Adelaide.

With Pat Cummins and Lyon essentially confirmed to return for the match, Doggett looks the likeliest casualty for Cummins, though who exits the side for the off-spinner remains less clear.

While there is a chance Neser falls victim to the ‘last in, first out’ theory, selectors could see the fixture as a great chance to rest Boland ahead of two quick turnarounds between the third, fourth and fifth Tests — a move which would see the Queenslander hold his spot and play his first-ever red-ball Test.

If George Bailey and co wished to be even more bold with their bowling attack, they could play all of Neser, Starc, Cummins, Lyon and Boland and instead omit Josh Inglis as batter.