Nathan Lyon is certain he will be ready to return to action for the first Test against Bangladesh in Darwin during August. has made sure to remind Australia 's selectors that he has the hunger to play everything available as he resumes bowling after a "pretty traumatic" hamstring injury.
Lyon suffered the injury late in the third Test against England in Adelaide and required surgery to reattach the muscle. Amid a rehab programme which has seen him find a new passion for road biking, where he has clocked up over 700km, Lyon bowled at Cricket Central in Sydney on Monday. is eager to resume against batters during a series of training camps in Brisbane next month.
"Yeah. 100%," he said when asked about making the opening Test against Bangladesh on August 13, which will start a period of at least 20 in 11 months up to the end of next year's Ashes.
"[I'm] absolutely flying. I feel really good, really confident … very happy with the way it's gone. It's been a lot of hard work, there's no point in hiding behind that, a lot of long days. stuff, but that's all been part of it."
Detailing the injury, CA physical performance coach Ross Herridge expressed confidence that Lyon was on track. "It was a pretty traumatic injury," he said. "He planted his right leg and then dived over that to get the ball. It just puts that hamstring under extreme stress and you're having to withstand pretty high forces.
"We've got physical markers that we check along the way. there's checkpoints to make sure it's going well and so far he's hit all of them."
Lyon sits on 567 Test wickets - second only to Shane Warne for Australia -. could push towards 600 given the volume of matches ahead. However, he turns 39 in November. speaking in recent months, national selector George Bailey and head coach Andrew McDonald have given guarded assessments of his future and they hadn't gone unnoticed.
"I saw George's comments, he's had a phone call. I have seen Andrew's comments. he's had a phone call," Lyon said, speaking as general public tickets went on sale for the men's international season. "But, yeah, I wouldn't be doing all this work right now if I didn't want to play every Test match. No one has a given right to be selected for Australia. so I know I need to make sure that I'm performing, doing all the right things. But I'm, hand on heart, set on playing every Test match I'm available for."
Lyon said that retirement had never crossed his mind,. it was while watching the recent opening State of Origin rugby league match where New South Wales produced a stunning comeback against Queensland that reinforced the competitive juices were still there.
"Seeing those guys be able to write a fairytale script for so many people in the crowd. for a professional athlete to have that ability to do that, that's what's really driving me at the moment," he said. "I was sitting there with my wife. I literally said, I'm not ready to give up this, I'm missing this right now.
"Honestly. I felt like, before I blew my hammy off, I was probably bowling the best I've bowled in about six years. Now I know what I need to do to get to that standard. I'm really excited by that challenge."
Quite how many Tests Lyon plays, though, may not come down purely to fitness after he was left out of consecutive pink-ball matches last year against West Indies. England - with Lyon not hiding his anger at those decisions - while Australia didn't select a frontline spinner at the MCG or, more surprisingly, the SCG in the Ashes even though they had called up Todd Murphy.
Conditions in South Africa during October could favour the quicks. while Lyon will be vital in India, the 150th anniversary Test against England at the MCG is a day-night clash. Lyon expected "pretty decent batting wickets" in the Top End which "hopefully spin later", but more broadly for the traditional part of the season hoped to see contests return to a more even balance between bat. ball.
"A number of years ago it was too batter friendly, now we've swung around. now we're probably too bowler friendly," he said. "I know how hard it is to make a good wicket, so I'm not going to sit here. criticise curators. I think if we get a nice healthy middle we'll see some really good cricket."
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