Selection chief George Bailey has guaranteed Nathan Lyon will play the third Test in Adelaide after his sensational axing on Thursday, as it emerged captain Pat Cummins was ruled out from the day/night clash because he would have been under a hard bowling restriction.
Lyon’s fate was sealed after a final pitch inspection less than 90 minutes before the toss when stand-in captain Steve Smith and selectors bit the bullet and left the veteran off-spinner out on home soil for the first time since the WACA Test of the 2011/12 summer against India.
Pat Cummins (centre) before the start of play.Credit: AP
George Bailey on Nathan Lyon’s omission: “Very much it’s a one-Test decision – Nath will play in Adelaide.
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“It’s how you think you’ll structure up the resources and how it’s going to be used, when it gets dark here, when you think you’re going to be using seam bowlers, how many overs will get bowled in the day, when you think new ball will be available, that sort of stuff”.
And Pat Cummins’ fitness: “If you’re going to bowl them here [in the nets], can it be there [out on the field]?
“The key factors were: what does that look like for post-this, and are you accentuating that risk going forward, and what are the uncontrollables in a game? Does that put other players under pressure?
“It’s one where we can’t budge on. It’d be a hard number of overs.”
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