Nathan Lyon one of Australia’s greatest ever bowlers, reckons Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting believes that Nathan Lyon’s numbers suggest that he is one of the greatest spinners in the world currently and has been performing remarkably well against the very best. He also discussed some of the aspects of the upcoming second test of the Ashes after a comfortable win in the first.
Nathan Lyon took full advantage of the Edgbaston pitch as it dried over the course of five days to hand England their first defeat at the venue in ten years with a nine-wicket haul. The match-winning performance took his wicket count to 352 in the all-whites for the Kangaroos, 211 more than the second most successful off-spinner for the country, Hugh Trumble. Four more scalps would help him surpass the legendary Dennis Lillee to become the country’s third most successful Test bowler of all-time, only behind Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
"He absolutely deserves to be in that category (alongside Australia's greatest ever bowlers). Players have always been judged on their numbers and it's not like he's played against weak teams every other week. He's played against the best. I actually think he's getting better and better as well. I think he can be considered for a T20 role because he's just that good now. He deserves everything that's coming his way regarding his stature in the game," Ricky Ponting was reported saying by cricket.com.au about the 31-year-old.
The team is in high spirits having won the opening clash of the series by a mammoth 251 runs buoyed on by the pace duo of Peter Siddle and James Pattinson. Even though a couple of the world’s best quicks in Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are available, the team’s performance may mean they have to stay put on the bench.
"If it looks like it'll be a wicket that offers a bit to Sidds, he'd stay in. If it looks like it'll be a flat and dry one, there might be a case to make a change We know McGrath has a great record at Lord's and loved bowling there. He used to seam the ball back down the slope because he wasn't a big swing bowler. The way Sidds is bowling now is actually quite similar to the way McGrath bowled in his last few years. I actually think (the Lord's slope) will suit all of our bowlers pretty well," Ponting said.
On the other hand, England face a real challenge as far as the team selection is concerned after it underperformed quite a bit in the series opener. With James Anderson ruled out with injury, the pit has only deepened for the home team and will have to make some real tough decisions ahead of the next match.
“I think if they did make (multiple) changes now, it'd be a sign of real panic. If I was in the Aussie team and I saw they'd made a couple of changes to their batting as well as the forced change with Anderson, I'd feel pretty good about myself,” Ponting said on the matter.
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