Nathan Lyon was proud of himself for hobbling out to bat at number 11, and admitted he had shed tears over a significant calf tear, at the end of Australia’s second innings on the afternoon of the fourth day of the second Ashes Test.
The spinner had pulled up trying to go for a ball on the evening of the second day and immediately hobbled off the field for treatment, with scans later revealing a significant calf tear.
Despite already having a lead of 355 on the fourth day, Lyon hopped down from the long room where he had been waiting to bat and hobbled out to the middle.
It was a mammoth effort, applauded by the majority of the Lord’s crowd and, for a painful 25 minutes with Australia unable to make any runs between the wicket, they were rewarded with a further 15 runs.
“I had to go down and wait down in the long room because I would have been timed out,” Lyon explained.
“The lifts here are pretty slow so I had to walk down the stairs, I didn’t know how long Josh Hazlewood was going to hang in there.
“I wanted to bat, it was my call. Pat (Cummins) was probably a bit hesitant but I’d do anything for this team and I’d do it again tomorrow.
“I’ve been pretty shattered, I’ve been in tears I’ve been upset and been hurting. This team means everything to me. I’ll start this rehab journey now to get back, to keep playing this role. I love what I do.”
Nathan Lyon enabled Australia to add a further 15 runs— (Getty Images)
Lyon’s effort was part of Australia showing just what this Ashes means to them – limping, quite literally, towards setting England what would be a record 371 chase to win.
The bowlers then made early inroads into the hosts’ batting line-up to leave the match poised ahead of the final day, with England needing 257 runs to win and having six wickets remaining.
“I’ve got a decent tear in my right calf, that’s pretty obvious now,” the off-spinner continued.
“Regarding the series, I’ll sit down with the medical team tomorrow and we’ll have a chat about that. Right now it’s pretty shattering, I’m pretty gutted, pretty speechless.
“Everyone’s talking about how resilient and injury free I’ve been. But it’s part of the game, part sport, I’ve been extremely lucky with injuries, been around since 2011.
“Australia have played 126 Tests since then and I’ve been lucky enough to play122 of them. It’s a little speed bump in the road it’s not career-defining or anything like that. I’m hungrier than ever.”
