Nathan Lyon opens up about shattering Ashes rejection in 2013

Nathan Lyon opens up about the shattering Ashes rejection that left him wondering ‘Will my family still love me?’

  • Nathan Lyon  will play his 100th consecutive Test at Lord’s on Wednesday
  • The star spinner is five wickets away from 500th victims in Test cricket
  • Lyon admitted doubting himself during the 2013 series in England  

Nathan Lyon remembers it like it was yesterday. Being told he was being dropped from Australia’s team, feeling his career was over and wondering what the hell he was going to do next.

That was 10 long years ago.

Now as he stands on the brink of an extraordinary achievement, as the only bowler in the history of cricket to play 100 consecutive Test matches, the spinner’s spinner, who really doesn’t like to talk about himself, is happy to declare: ‘I’m pretty proud.’

It was a bit of advice from his mate Brad Haddin that ensured the 25-year-old who’d been told he wasn’t good enough to get right-handers out went on to become the 35-year-old who was to play a heroic part with ball – and bat – in one of the greatest Australian Test wins ever at Edgbaston.

‘I remember that day at Trent Bridge pretty clearly when I got told I wasn’t playing,’ said Lyon, reflecting on news that shattered him at the start of the 2013 Ashes series, being dropped just weeks after he’d taken nine wickets in the Delhi Test.

Nathan Lyon will play his 100th consecutive Test at Lord’s this week 

Lyon (left) was dropped in favour of debutant Ashton Agar (right) for the opening Test of the 2013 Ashes series, but returned to the team for the third Test

Lyon (left) has credited former teammate Brad Haddin (right) with helping him turn his career around after he began doubting his status

It was even more devastating as, having already been dropped once during that India tour, he was now being replaced by an uncapped teenager, Ashton Agar.

‘I just remember sitting on the end of Brad Haddin’s bed and talking about it,’ he reflected at Lord’s before Wednesday’s second Test.

‘It’s weird feeling when you get dropped, especially as a young cricketer, young in your international career.

‘You tend to think your career is done, what are you going to do next, will my family still love me and all that stuff. 

‘These are the thoughts which go through your head.

PLAYERS WITH THE MOST CONSECUTIVE TEST MATCH APPEARANCES

* Alastair Cook (batter, England) – 159

* Allan Border (batter, Australia) – 153

* Mark Waugh (batter, Australia) – 107

* Sunil Gavaskar (batter, India) – 106

* Brendon McCullum (batter, New Zealand) – 101

* Nathan Lyon (bowler, Australia) – 99

‘It wasn’t until Brad said: “Mate, you just need to talk to the selectors and find out what the reason was and go out and prove them wrong”. 

‘I did that, I’m proud of that, and the way I went about it.’

He was bloody-minded.

‘Back then, I got told I couldn’t bowl to right-handers,’ he recalls.

So he spent the next two weeks stalking Michael Clarke, trying to bowl to him at every possible opportunity, and to hell with the left-handers.

‘It was really good advice at that stage to allow me to try and get better and figure out how to get better,’ he said.

‘It’s been an incredible journey.’

A journey that resumed a couple of Ashes matches later when he was brought back for Old Trafford – the start of his unbeaten sequence – and one that now also sees him closing in on 500 wickets. Five more at Lord’s would do nicely.

And things just keep getting better for the indomitable ‘Gaz’.

The Aussie spinner put up a match-winning partnership with captain Pat Cummins as the tourists claimed a dramatic two-wicket win at Edgbaston in the opening Ashes Test

Lyon took eight wickets at Edgbaston and needs just five more to reach 500 Test wickets 

At Edgbaston, batting with one of his best pals, captain Pat Cummins, he led Australia to their two-wicket win, striking a glorious on-driven boundary off Stuart Broad en route which he swears now he can’t remember.

‘Think I had my eyes closed when I was out there,’ he said.

What he does remember was umpire Marais Erasmus telling him with about 30 runs needed that he was reminded of Australia’s agonising near-miss in the ‘Ben Stokes Test’ at Headingley in 2019.

‘I didn’t think about Headingley at all until Marais said that. Thanks Marais! That’s one way to calm my nerves.’

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