{"id":326811,"date":"2025-12-04T08:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T08:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326811\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T08:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T08:48:09","slug":"nathan-lyon-hurt-after-being-omitted-for-second-test-why-he-wasnt-picked-george-bailey-comments-pat-cummins-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326811\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Lyon hurt after being omitted for second Test, why he wasn\u2019t picked, George Bailey comments, Pat Cummins latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chief selector George Bailey has confessed veteran spinner Nathan Lyon was not happy with his omission from the second Ashes Test against England at the Gabba, confessing it was a \u201cline-ball\u201d decision to recall seamer Michael Neser for the first time in three years.<\/p>\n

The hosts dropped a selection bombshell in the Queensland capital on Thursday morning, leaving out Lyon in favour of an all-pace attack of Neser, Brendan Doggett, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, who received support from all-rounder Cameron Green.<\/p>\n

Lyon was also axed for July\u2019s third Test against the West Indies in Jamaica, which at the time national selector Tony Dodemaide described as a \u201cone-off\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old\u2019s surprise omission prompted plenty of debate on Thursday afternoon, particularly when opener Zak Crawley and superstar Joe Root combined for a century stand as the pink Kookaburra softened.<\/p>\n

Speaking on day one at the Gabba, Bailey clarified it was \u201cvery much a one-Test decision\u201d to leave out Lyon, guaranteeing the off-spinner\u2019s selection for the third match against England in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think (Lyon) agreed with it, and that\u2019s fine, I think Beau Webster\u2019s also in the same boat,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNathan will disagree with the decision, and that\u2019s perfectly okay. I think he disagreed with the decision in Jamaica, and that\u2019s perfectly okay. I have no qualms about players feeling like they can impact the game. And the fact of the matter is he could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s just how you think you\u2019re going to structure up the resources and how it\u2019s going to be used, when it gets dark here, when you think you\u2019re going to be using seam bowlers, how many overs get bowled in a day, when you think new ball will be available and that sort of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawley bounces back with Gabba 50 | 00:48<\/p>\n

Bailey also insinuated that Lyon\u2019s expensive spells in the Caribbean over the winter contributed to the decision, with the New South Welshman conceding 5.07 runs per over across his three most recent Tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been years where he has managed his ability to bowl long spells, go at two an over, and hold things down, and it just hasn\u2019t quite panned out that way (more recently),\u201d Bailey explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when it suits and the time\u2019s right, that will still be the case I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding injury to insult, Lyon was hurt in the Gabba nets during the first session on day one. SEN\u2019s Tom Morris reported<\/a> he was bowling to fellow absentee Beau Webster when the Tasmanian whacked one and hit him \u201cflush in the ankle\u201d, limping back towards the sheds to end the session.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Cricket Australia later confirmed the spinner was alright.<\/p>\n

Nathan Lyon during an Australia nets session at The Gabba. Photo by Chris Hyde\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Bailey declared that wounded captain Pat Cummins was a certainty for the third Ashes Test, revealing he was on the verge of playing the Brisbane match courtesy of his faster-than-anticipated recovery from a back injury. He added that Australia was not playing \u201csilly buggers\u201d by leaving the team announcement until the coin toss, with the hosts weighing up Cummins\u2019 selection as late as Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

If he had played, Cummins would have been required to abide by restricted bowling loads at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we got up here, saw his training, got as much of the background medical information as well, it became a live possibility,\u201d Bailey said of Cummins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it was just working through the permutations of what would that look like in terms of the amount of overs, what would it look like going forward as well?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became a live conversation, hence probably leaving some of the other decisions until late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan hails Starc as one of the greats | 01:30<\/p>\n

Bailey also revealed the national selectors never came to a definitive decision on whether veteran opener Usman Khawaja would have kept his spot in the starting XI for the second Test if not for his back injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, with him, he hadn\u2019t got his back to baseline, and if you\u2019re not back to the starting point there, then it\u2019s obviously a heightened risk,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re injured and you feel like you let the team down, and I think that was something he was just conscious of, if it happened again, I just think it\u2019d be an awful feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo sitting this one out buys time to get it right and build it out from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chief selector George Bailey has confessed veteran spinner Nathan Lyon was not happy with his omission from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-326811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}