'Lyon Is The Best Finger Spinner Ever'

'He's got a pretty good record against Indian batsmen (123 wickets in 28 Tests versus India).'
'In India too he has a great record (56 wickets in 11 Tests in India ), that is a pretty good record against a country that traditionally plays spin very well.'

Nathan Lyon's journey to cricketing greatness is a story of determination and perseverance.

From working as a groundsman at the Adelaide Oval to becoming one of the top spinners of his era, Lyon's journey started when was discovered by former South Australia coach Darren Berry while rolling the pitch.

After impressing in his debut in the Big Bash T20 match against New South Wales, Lyon quickly climbed up the ranks in the Sheffield Shield and the one-day tournament before making the unbelievable giant leap into the Australia Test team within six months for the tour of Sri Lanka in 2011.

His Test debut was nothing short of remarkable -- as he dismissed cricketing great Kumar Sangakkara caught at slip off his very first delivery before going on to bag a five-wicket haul in the same innings in the Galle Test in September 2011.

Lyon, who turned 37 on November 20, 2024, boasts of a rich haul of 532 wickets in 130 Tests, ranking eighth in all-time Test wicket-takers and third among Australians, behind only the legendary duo of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Among active players, only India's Ravichandran Ashwin, with 536 wickets in 105 Tests, is ahead of him.

Berry, who discovered Lyon, hailed him the best finger spinner in the history of cricket, rating him higher than the great Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets) and Ashwin.

"Everyone will always say Murali but Murali was obviously very different, because we know why, and he had the skills to spin the ball different directions. Nathan is a traditional, traditional, finger spinner. He doesn't have a lot of tricks. He just bowls good off-spinners consistently," Berry tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian in a phone interview from Adelaide.

Part one of a two-part interview:

How high do you rate Lyon's achievements in Test cricket?
From working as groundstaff at the Adelaide Oval to conquering batters all over the world for an amazing tally of 532 wickets in 130 Tests, his journey has been quite unbelievable.

It is an amazing story. It is an inspiration to anybody who plays the game, doesn't matter which country in the world they are from.

Somebody who was a groundsman and we got him off the roll, and got him to bowl a few balls. And when I saw the ball come out of his fingers, it was something very special because instead of bowling like most off-spinners across the seam a little bit like Ashwin does, Nathan Lyon bowls over the top of the seam and he generates lovely bounce and spin.

He is a special talent and an amazing story for him to make it to the top.

I believe Nathan Lyon is the best finger spinner ever to have played the game.

What was his first reaction when you first told him he had the potential to be a top spinner?

He was very nervous. He was a shy kid, very nervous and shy, he wasn't sure that he was ready for the first class level, but I was very certain he was.

Nathan Lyon is the best off spinner that I had seen since Tim May bowled for Australia. And I had been a wicket-keeper to Tim May, and I just saw something special in the fingers and I was convinced. I had to convince my boss, Jamie Cox, who was the cricket manager (for South Australia) at the time, we need to pick this kid. We need to pick him.

We actually picked him initially -- it may sound bizarre -- for a T20 match. That was his first taste of the big time, South Australia versus New South Wales. I reckon he got a couple of wickets on debut. I think that gave him a little bit of belief, and then he was picked in the first class arena and very, very. quickly, other people started to see what I had seen. And within six months, he was making his Test debut.

You had to convince a lot of people to get Lyon into the South Australia team but he rose through the ranks quickly in the Big Bash and Sheffield Shield.

With his first ball in Test cricket he dismissed the great Kumar Sangakkara in the Galle Test in 2012 and bagged a five-wicket in his first innings in Test. It must have been an unbelievable moment for young Lyon and for you as well as his first coach at South Australia to see the young spinner making such an immediate impact.

Yeah, I was very happy for him and his family. They are a lovely family, very humble, country upbringing, not in the city but out in the country side.

I remember sitting with Nathan before he went to Sri Lanka, and he was still very nervous. And we were watching some footage of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene and all their other batters. And I could tell his nerves. I could tell he was very nervous. I said to him that 'You got nothing to lose, go back your skills.'

And as we saw the very first ball in Test cricket, he gets Sangakkara, caught at slip. Then, I think Ricky Ponting and other people in that team also gave him belief. Michael Hussey said 'mate, you're good enough'.

I got to be honest when Nathan Lyon got Sangakkara out with his first ball in Test cricket, it was a very exciting proud moment for me.

And here we are bloody hell 532 Test wickets!

For a finger spinner, that is amazing. Shane Warne, who was my best friend, was the greatest spinner, with all due respects to Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan).

Everyone will always say Murali but Murali was obviously very different, because we know why, and he had the skills to spin the ball different directions.

Nathan is a traditional, traditional, finger spinner. He doesn't have a lot of tricks. He just bowls good off-spinners consistently.

Would say patience and perseverance have been his strength as a spinner?

Yes, he just believes and always has that if I consistently put the ball in the right areas. The thing about him, he challenges both the outside edge and the inside edge, and that's because he gets over spin on the ball.

Now, a lot of off-spinners challenge the inside edge, like Ashwin who is a great bowler, and when he's bowling, he's got the one that goes straight, but generally off-spinners turn the ball into the right-hander. They challenge the inside edge.

Nathan has the ball over the top and can spin on, spin straight on so he challenges the outside edge and the inside edge, which I think is a great sign. Your words were good, perseverance and patience along with control. He doesn't bowl many bad balls.

As you said, Nathan Lyon relies mostly on his stock ball, focusing on the basics of line and length, looking to beat the batters with flight and turn.
Was there ever a temptation for him to add some variety to his bowling like the doosra or some other mystery ball?

Yeah, there was some discussion, and a lot of people said that he wouldn't survive without it. I remember having a discussion, a heated discussion, with the late Ashley Mallett, the former Australian off-spinner. And Ashley Mallett said to me 'Nathan will not survive in the subcontinent unless he gets a doosra or a ball that does something different'.

And I said, 'Ashley, that is rubbish. He will survive because of his clever, subtle variety and his control'.

A lot of people early days said he won't survive unless he has one that goes the other way. Now, for a little period, Nathan did experiment with it, and he never mastered the art, but he had, one that (turned the other way), it was his version of the doosra, but it was never perfected.

And all he does now, he bowls off-spin. He can bowl one with a square seam, but most of the time he bowls 45 degrees and he spins his index finger over the top of the ball, rather than around the ball.

A lot of off-spinners bowl like open the door, we call it the door knob. You might have heard they just open the door knob.

Nathan Lyon spins over the top of the ball with that, that is a rare skill. The off-spinner gets the ball to drop, and he gets it to deceive the batsman.

The Indian batsmen who are the better players of spin, I think he's got a pretty good record against Indian batsmen (123 wickets in 28 Tests versus India).

In India too he has a great record (56 wickets in 11 Tests in India ), that is a pretty good record against a country that traditionally plays spin very well.

The good thing about Nathan, he has done it all over the world. He is not just good in Australia with the bounce. He has been successful all over the world. So that's what I think stands him out from the rest, to be the best off-spinner of all time.

As I said, I don't want to criticise Murali at all, because Murali's record is the best. But I would say Murali was a different spinner. Nathan is a traditional off-spinner, and I think what he has achieved, he is amazing at it, and I still think he is pretty fit.

In my eyes, there is no sign of Nathan Lyon looking towards coming to the end. I think he's still got a lot of cricket left.

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