Lyon warns England not to snub spinner for Ashes

Nathan Lyon has warned England they would be foolish to overlook a frontline spinner for this summer’s Ashes, insisting Australia will be ready to inflict more pain on the tourists.

Australia’s greatest off-spinner said he was not surprised by England’s squad announcement last week, which included Will Jacks as back-up to Shoaib Bashir, but featured no other slow-bowling options.

England are weighing up a pace-heavy attack – spearheaded by Jofra Archer – for the marquee series starting on November 21 in Perth.

Lyon, unveiled on Wednesday as NSW’s new Sheffield Shield captain for the side’s opening match in Perth on Saturday, said ignoring a spinner would be a mistake despite history showing visiting spinners generally have a tough time in Australia.

“You’re asking the spinner if they want to pick a spinner? For me, you’re picking a spinner in every side because the variation changes the tempo of the game,” Lyon said. “I think a spinner can play a very effective role out here if their skill set suits.

“To be honest, [England’s squad] is all pretty much what we expected. The whole squad is very attacking with fast bowlers. At the end of the day, it comes down to only what we do in our backyard.”

Lyon, who has taken 562 Test wickets, said overseas spinners have struggled in Australia because they lack the grounding he developed as a local.

“I grew up here – I understand and built my craft around playing on wickets that don’t spin,” Lyon said. “I’ve had to find a way to firstly survive, but also create chances and build pressure along the way. It’s something I thoroughly enjoyed doing, and I’ll keep doing that.”

England have not won a Test in Australia since 2011, though there is confidence under coach Brendon McCullum they can spring an upset.

Lyon, who is planning to play three of the Blues’ next four Shield matches before the opening Test, also sent a pointed reminder that talk counts for little.

“I saw Graeme Swann come out the other day and say that in 2013-14 they [thought] were going to beat us 5-0 and that we were shit. We ended up winning 5-0,” Lyon said.

“I think confidence is a big thing but at the end of the day, you’ve got to come out here and play in our conditions. You’ve got to understand that.

“No doubt, they have got good cricketers and some superstars in the side. It’s going to be a good challenge, but we’re not going to shy away from it and no doubt the Australian cricket team is going to be pretty confident as well.”

With Jack Edwards away on Australia A duty, it is not the first time Lyon has captained a Sheffield Shield side. He was South Australia’s skipper for the opening match of the 2012 season in the absence of regular captain Johan Botha, who was on national duty in Sri Lanka as part of South Africa’s squad for the T20 World Cup.

The Blues will field a weakened squad for their clash against Western Australia, which will be confirmed on Thursday. Sam Konstas will open the batting as he begins his quest to retain his spot at the top of Australia’s order, while fellow batsman Josh Philippe is a late out after being called up to Australia’s T20 squad in New Zealand.

The Blues’ other big guns – Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc – won’t take part in the season opener at the WACA. Their workloads leading into the summer will be managed by Cricket Australia. The first Test against England in Perth begins on November 21.

“It’s a massive honour to captain the state that you’re born in and obviously dreamt of playing cricket for,” Lyon said. “So to get that call the other day was pretty humbling. I’ve never had any ambitions to captain any teams, especially professional teams.”

England’s Ashes squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.