Where are you going to draw the line then...we may as well never have another spinner again with your attitude
since our part timers and our fast bowlers are going so well this is the perfect time to 'carry' Lyon...that's if you want to look long term.
Give Patterson a rest, allow Lyon to ***** develop and both bowlers & the future of Aust cricket will be better for it
How hard is that to ***** grasp
You really are grumpy, aren't you, Mrs Lyon. I would probably bring Nathan back in for Adelaide (especially if they want to rest Patto) and I expect the conditions in the West Indies will also suit Lyon, so I fully expect he'll play there too, so you can chill.
I just have a problem with playing him (or anyone, as I think he's very good) for the sake of it, when the conditions don't suit them and suit someone else we have far better. I know it's crazy, but I want us to pick our best team (for the conditions of the coming game) every game. To play each ball on its merits, so to speak, from a selection point of view, to give us our best chance of winning every game. To quote you, how hard is that to ****ing grasp?
If that means Lyon plays, great, if it means he doesn't, I don't give a f***. I put the team ahead of "individuals". This is not the Nathan Lyon Cricket Team, or the Nathan Lyon Development Team, it's the Australian cricket team and we have the whole country to choose from, not just Nathan Lyon. As I've said before, these are also not practise matches, where it's cool to just carry someone for their development, game after game. There is a series and ranking points, etc. up for grabs. It may also not be doing Lyon's confidence any good being largely ignored by Clarke and being played with ease by "tailenders".
You seem to be very concerned about Lyon. Where is your similar concern for Ryan Harris, who has been a huge part of this team and has largely carried our bowling for 18 months? He is a lot better than Lyon at this point in time. Doesn't he deserve a game, especially since he has little time left and Lyon has years? Nathan's time will come, I expect and there are other ways he can develop other than by taking up a spot in the national side, when we have a stronger option and games to win. We are not Port Adelaide, or GWS, or Gold Coast, who are largely in a "development" phase, we're
playing to win, as far as I can tell.
As I've also said previously, there is also a new philosophy of providing more "juice" and grass on Australian wickets now, so there will probably be a lot of occasions, both here and overseas, where we'll be playing on wickets that are much more suited to pace than spin, in the coming years. You also factor in the fact that we look to have a real arsenal of fast bowling options at our disposal at the moment and for the forseeable future (Patto, Hilfy, Siddle, Harris, Cummins, Hazlewood, Coulter Nile, Cutting, etc) and we may well be much better off playing 4 "quicks" for perhaps half of our test matches for the forseeable future.
If that means someone like Lyon only plays half the games, because someone like Cummins is going to be a better option for the other half of those games, so be it.
We're allowed to be flexible. Like everyone in the AFL quickly got used to lots of interchange rotations, those bowling spin in Australia would quickly get used to the fact they aren't going to be in line to be picked in every test. If they're professional, which they ought to be, as this is their "job", they'll adapt well and realise it's not personal.
As I said, I put what's best for the team ahead of what's best for any of those who may or may not be in it, because the team will always be there, they will not and it's the team that I follow first, not anyone in it. If I'm wrong and it's all about Nathan, then I stand to be corrected.