For Nathan Lyon, the last week has seen the culmination of a childhood dream, a dream shared by many, many other Australians for themselves through their own youth.
Picked to tour Sri Lanka in late August with the Australian Test squad, captained by Michael Clarke, Nathan is living everyone cricket lover’s fantasy. Given the media attention and public debate this week, it has come to a shock to almost all of the Australian public. It has been a brave decision by a National Selection Panel (NSP) that appears confused to bewildered fans. However confused the NSP are, I am backing them in this selection. The selection of Nathan has received much criticism throughout media outlets this week, and public response has been largely negative, not necessarily personally at Nathan, but his apparent (and in fact at an elite level) lack of experience. This Rant is a retort at the critics, and an opinion from my perspective of why the road that has led Nathan on this meteoric rise means that he is now Australia’s best spin bowling option.
In the years since the retirement of SKW, Australia has used several spinners, 12 in fact. The rotation of these players has caused headaches for the NSP and the have drawn significant and warranted criticism as a result. The inability of the NSP to continue with one spinner has been due partly to the player’s inconsistencies. But also for a lack of sustained opportunity afforded by the NSP to these previous players, and is a direct result of an impatient public.
Spin bowling is a craft. For the period 1993 -2007 (aside from some poor medical advice from his mother), Shane Warne blessed the Australian cricketing community with the unseen. He is and was a one off, a mercurial genius, and the likes of which the world will never see again. We, as a cricketing nation, must not regard the path taken by Warney, and not expect that the next Warne be just around the corner. This is far from the case; he will never be back. And most likely, no one will ever come close.
So what does Australian cricket do to cover such an enormous hole? That hole has been there in the past, and will be in the future. The only reason it was filled was because of the genius that was Shane Warne as a cricketer.
The NSP and Cricket Australia instead need to turn away from what worked while Warney was about, he picked himself, and the NSP got away with not making any hard decisions while Warne was on the Australian cricketing landscape. They must look internationally for a new benchmark to base the development of the next crop of Australian spinners. The landscape of world cricket has also changed, with the rise of the phenomenon that is Twenty20. Changing skill sets, a lack of exposure to longer formats of cricket and a reduction to the number of fringe Australians seeking winter seasons in the UK have all played their part in the downward spiral of Australian cricket in recent years.
So what do they do? How do they move forward and find a long-term option? Most will agree that what they do need, is to pick someone and stick by them, give them a chance to prove themselves, and have a long term plan.
Nathan’s recent success has provided him an opportunity. Having gathered and collated my thoughts, I believe him be the right man at the right time. Hopefully from this, I can provide people with the information for them to form a different opinion. And for the critics to realise that cricket, for Nathan, did not start 8 months ago, it started, like it has for many of us, from the time he could hold a bat and bowl a ball. He has worked hard, he has faced challenges and throughout has maintained a singular focus of becoming the best player he can.
Nathan is a throwback to a previous generation of cricketers. Not from a talent or fitness perspective, but rather the method by which his game has developed and the path that has allowed for his sudden rise. This is a path he has shared with many before him. Selection for representative cricket in country NSW and ACT programs have provided him a legitimate pathway. A pathway that this year sees nine former ACT juniors and representatives contracted to state squads around Australia.
Many of today’s cricketers are identified at a very early age as having the potential to become good players. Once identified, they are afforded every opportunity to make something of themselves, with underage and talent identification squads, equipment sponsorships and access to the best coaches and technology. Each of these opportunities assist in development, but do we forget this is a game between bat and ball, bowler and batsman and their respective cricketing intellect? Many of these young men have never worked a full time job; their job since (and sometimes through) school has been cricket. Nathan has been borne of a different beast.
Five years ago, having recently joined WDUCC, Nathan was making the weekly commute to Canberra from Young to train and play at a higher standard. This was a huge commitment by himself and his parents. He made an immediate impact in first grade; smashing 87 not out from number 10 v Weston Creek. Twelve months later, Nathan started to find his feet with WDUCC; Mark Hatton, a former Tasmanian Sheffield Shield representative, had been very helpful at a first grade level in Nathan’s first season. After Hatton’s departure to Darwin, Nathan assumed the role of first choice spinner. Having been selected to tour with ACT u19’s and with his performances continuing to be more impressive, he had high hopes for a successful carnival.
Early in the carnival, and with Nathan bowling, a Tasmanian batsman smashed a delivery back at Nathan with such force he could not get his hands up in time, it smashed through his fingers and struck him in the face. As a result, Nathan’s required facial surgery and the incident impacted his vision for some time, a very worrying time for a lad that, to that point had promised so much. To his credit, he worked harder than ever to get himself back into his cricket. He was rewarded with another grand final appearance, this time a victorious moment for Nathan and the club.
The following year, after the retirement of West's first grade captain Andrew Jones, Nathan took over as WDUCC first grade captain, as a 20 year old. That year also saw him break into the ACT Comets senior program. Nathan was also successful in leading WDUCC to their 3rd consecutive grand final, but his unfortunate hand injury early saw him unable to partake in much of the match after Saturdays first session. Bravely, with 100 to win and only one wicket left, Nathan came out and batted. Displaying the toughness that we were accustomed to expect from him, and in severe pain during and after each ball, he stood and took whatever the Creek side could throw at him. He remained not out at the end of the innings.
After school, Nathan took up a position with ACT Cricket as an apprentice groundsman, a tough gig and hard slog in a public service town, especially on an apprentice wage. This period of time provided many challenges and commitments beyond what most of his peers were experiencing. Early morning starts, long days, weekend work, and all for a less than ideal pay package. This showed me, and many others around Canberra cricket, the nature of this special young man. He has maturity beyond his years both professionally and in the sporting arena.
Having completed his apprenticeship, Nathan captained WDUCC to finals for another year and played an important role for the ACT Comets with significant contributions. Having done the hard work to complete his apprenticeship, and in search of possible opportunities to further his career, the first of s series of perfectly timed opportunities presented itself to Nathan. He successfully obtained a curating position on the SACA ground staff, picking up and leaving Canberra for Adelaide. Playing opportunities also contributed to the decision to move on. The SACA grade club provided Nathan’s next stop. Solid performances for the grade club, and the opportunity to net bowl with the SACA Redbacks squad caught the eye of former Victorian wicketkeeper and new Redbacks Twenty20 coach Darren Berry.
Berry had first noticed Nathan while he was playing for the ACT Comets in the Futures League Baby Bash and selected him in the Redbacks Big Bash Squad. Berry’s bravery in making the decision to select Nathan was a masterstroke, with Nathan playing an enormous role for the Redbacks. He finished the Big Bash tournament as the competition leading wicket taker and the Redbacks three pronged spin attack assisted them in winning the title. This was the first competition the Redbacks had won for 14 seasons.
Berry is an enormously well respected cricket thinker. He did after all, spend countless seasons working with Warne at Victoria. The regard in which Warne holds him is obvious; Berry was Warne’s assistant coach at the tournament victor Rajasthan for IPL1. Warne and Berry’s analytical and detailed preparation and match plans have provided Berry with a clear path toward success and developing his own coaching style. I have little doubt he has spoken at length to Warne about his new off spinning prodigy and come the start of the Australian Summer and that SKW will be in Nathan’s corner.
After the success of the Redbacks Big Bash campaign, Nathan had announced himself and as a result, he picked up a state contract, playing 4 shield matches before the end of season 2010/2011. Nathan worked closely with Redbacks skipper and wicket keeper Graham Manou, and combined with Berry, Nathan’s skill set continued to grow. Shortly after the end of his state and grade commitments last season, Nathan was selected to tour Zimbabwe with the Australia A one-day squad. Eleven series wickets, catches, run outs, a match winning strike for six in a nail biter, three wickets in the final. An undefeated campaign was capped off by him being named Player of the Series, his first International Series, his first cricket overseas.
Nathan has always been engaged in cricket and has had some great mentors along the way. Names such as Mark Hatton, Darren Richards, Allan McGann, Andrew Dawson, Mark Higgs come to mind. From all of them, he has gathered his information, learned his craft and taken what he needed to establish his own cricketing philosophy and approach to the game. He has become tough, relentless and has maintained that incredible competitive nature. His ability to engage people is a fine strength of his as people will listen to him. People also want him to listen to them, and he does, he always has.
Nathan is modest and hardworking, traits he takes from his lovely parents Steve and Bronwyn. A childhood living off the land, in a small country town provides a very different experience in ones formative years, and from an early age, a strong work ethic was developed in Nathan. As a child there were fewer distractions, but less to do, so focus becomes more tunnel visioned. One can imagine the ‘backyard tests’ played between brothers and the intensity with which those contests were fought. I can only assume that as big a part as his former coaches have been in his development, the contests with brother Brendan have been as influential.
As painful as it is to say, the best of the international bunch at the moment is a Pom. Graeme Swann made his test debut for England as a 28 year old. Four years later he is the best spinner in the world, with a test bowling average of 28. As an off-spinner, his bowling average is excellent. Swann had debuted for England in the ODI format in 2000, as a 21 year old. The success he has been able to generate since his inclusion in the England test side has been based upon the fact of his consistency regardless of the time in the match, the conditions and the situation. He averages 28, regardless of match situation. Whether it be 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th innings of a test, Swann produces and as a result of his consistency, England have built their attack and are now fighting India for the mantle of world number.
Nathan, at 23 years of age, is more than capable of producing at least equivalent figures to the other spinning options Australia has available to them at the moment. And giving him experience at 23 may mean that by the time Nathan is 25 or 26, he could have potentially have had 25-30 test matches to develop himself into something similar to what England have developed with Swann. Hopefully he will be on his way to being Australia’s first choice spinner for the next 10 years.
Several of the spinners to play tests for Australia over recent seasons have made debuts at a relatively mature age. No one has really taken the opportunity, or has been given enough of an opportunity to establish themselves as the answer to Australia’s slow bowling woes. Hauritz probably got the closest, the others have fallen by the way side, and whatever has been the cause of this, the fans are being impatient. And they are now confused too.
As far as I am aware, Nathan is in limited company of players from the ACT to get the opportunity to play test cricket, at least in last 30 years. Michael Bevan and Brad Haddin may soon be joined by a third. I proudly say he is the first from the WDUCCC. The ride Nathan has taken, without the usual prerequisite exposure to elite cricket, has still required him to undertake an enormous amount of hard work. And the experience he does have has meant it has not been easy.
The eye injury prevented him from displaying 4 years ago at the Australian u19’s Championships that he had immense talent. The impacts of the injury were significant and long lasting. Had he played that carnival, Nathan may have been given similar opportunities to those who have trodden the paths through the Centre of Excellence. Instead, he worked and trained long and hard hours, with no great financial gain, just for the love of the game. When the opportunities to direct all of his attention to cricket have arisen, he has taken everything before him. The rate of his development in the last 12 months has been nothing less than astonishing, and the more time he gets to be a full time cricketer, the better I see him getting.
I am not suggesting that others haven’t worked hard, they have, most certainly, they still are. But they have worked hard a different way and perhaps for some, they have been treated unfairly, but the road travelled by Nathan to get there might just be the link back to the path of success for Australia. Australian cricket hasn’t seen anyone like him for many years, and we will all surely be along for the ride. We wish you all the best for the tour, good luck mate.
www.gannysrant.blogspot.com
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