Clarke’s still not met man behind the spin

Nathan Lyon, the shock Test selection for the tour of Sri Lanka, will step off a flight to Colombo on Tuesday week having not yet met the Australia captain, Michael Clarke.

The choice of the right-arm off-spin tyro has been acknowledged as being left-field since his name was uttered by Andrew Hilditch last week.

The skipper’s admission yesterday of only second-hand knowledge of the South Australian will only add to that perception. Clarke, however, is confident the newcomer will rise to the challenge.

“I still haven’t seen him face to face but I’ve spoken to him a couple of times on the phone,” Clarke said, before departing Sydney with members of the one-day side not already in Sri Lanka for two Twenty20 internationals beginning tomorrow.

“I haven’t seen much of Nathan Lyon. He’s had a great tour to Zimbabwe with the Australia A team, and I’ve heard some great reports of his bowling over there. He gets an opportunity to come to Sri Lanka and bowl in, generally, pretty good spinning conditions. “He’s certainly got a lot of talent. Now it’s about giving him a go and seeing how he handles playing cricket for Australia.”

Lyon has not been involved in Australia’s pre-tour preparations in Brisbane and hence has not had the chance to meet Clarke since he was named in the Test squad for three matches against Sri Lanka, starting in Galle on August 31.

Given Lyon’s record - he has played four first-class matches, and taken 12 wickets at 43 - it is understandable that the captain should be largely in the dark about the young spinner, although he must have heard by now the fun fact that the 23-year-old was a groundsman at the Adelaide Oval at the time of the Ashes Test there in December.

What the new captain is also aware of is the likely importance of spin on wickets that yielded significant returns for slow bowlers, albeit for the best two ever, the last time Australia were in Sri Lanka more than seven years ago. In that three-Test series, won 3-0 by Australia, Muttiah Muralitharan took 28 wickets for the hosts, and Shane Warne 26.

Clarke was not about to suggest Lyon, or Australia’s other spinner, Michael Beer, could replicate that sort of dominance but he believes they can form a handy combination.

“We have a left-arm orthodox and a right-arm finger spinner, which is good to have … two different spinners. As a bowling partnership in tandem, I think that can really work well together,” he said, adding on Lyon’s shock ascent: “It’s an opportunity and that’s generally how it works. When you don’t perform as well as you’d like as a team, new guys come in and get a chance and this is what’s happened in Nathan’s case.”

While Clarke has seen little of Lyon, he says he has spent no shortage of time in the company of his predecessor, Ricky Ponting, in the lead-up to his first series as full-time captain. Clarke and Ponting sat next to each other on yesterday’s flight to Colombo and, before that, the 36-year-old has offered assistance to the new leader on steering Australia through this transition period.

“We spent a lot of time up in Brisbane chatting about the team and a few of my ideas,” Clarke said of Ponting, who coincidentally embarked on his first series as Test captain in Sri Lanka in 2004. “I was trying to get a bit of guidance from him. One thing he’s just said to me is that he’s there for me. Anything I need, he’s more than happy to help. I feel comfortable in my position knowing that I have learned a lot from him and that he’s right there as well if I need any help and guidance.”

Australia will play the first of five one-day internationals in Kandy next Wednesday.

“As it turns out, I think I am the only player that has played Test cricket over there, so I will be giving him [Clarke] advice … when the Test matches come around,” Ponting said.

(www.smh.com.au)