Nathan Lyon suffered a right hamstring injury on the final day of the Adelaide Test and is in serious doubt for the remainder of the series.
Lyon, 38, dived to save a ball at fine leg but got up gingerly and immediately signaled to the dressing room after grabbing his right hamstring. He stepped off the field of play at fine leg and hobbled to the changing rooms after exchanging a brief word with Marnus Labuschagne, who patted him on the back.
He left Adelaide Oval on crutches before lunch to have a scan but had returned in time to join Australia‘s celebrations after they wrapped up the Ashes 3-0.
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He had taken five key wickets in the match, including three in the second innings to swing the game Australia‘s way and captain Pat Cummins said he would be hard to replace if he is ruled out for Melbourne.
“It doesn’t look great,” captain Cummins said. “I don’t know yet, but seeing someone on crutches doesn’t really bode well for a Test match a week away. Gaz is pretty close to irreplaceable. The ability to take breakthroughs, but also control an innings is really important, so it’s going to be hard to replace.”
Lyon suffered a series-ending right calf injury in the 2023 Ashes while running for a ball in the field at Lord’s in the second Test.
If Lyon is unable to play in the fourth Test in Melbourne, it will create an interesting selection debate about who would play as Australia’s specialist spinner.
“We’ve got some guys who have already had a taste of international cricket around the traps,” Cummins said. “Other guys have done really well in domestic cricket. I think it’s been one of the benefits, actually, of the Sri Lankan tour, even West Indies and a couple of these tours where we take a couple of spinners, there’s guys that can step in and you feel like it’s not going to be too overwhelming for them.”
Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann is on Australia’s contract list as Australia’s No. 2 Test spinner and toured West Indies with the team. But he has that role as a complementary second spinner to Lyon in spin-friendly conditions overseas having played all of his five Tests in India and Sri Lanka in 2023 and 2025.
Left-arm orthodox has not been as successful as offspin in Australian conditions in recent years. Kuhnemann has only played two Sheffield Shield matches this summer due to Australia white-ball duty and injury, taking four wickets at 36.
Victorian offspinner Todd Murphy, who has played seven Tests including two in the 2023 Ashes as Lyon’s replacement, has bowled well in Sheffield Shield cricket this summer and was Australia A’s specialist spinner in the recent game against England Lions in Brisbane, taking three wickets.
Todd Murphy has returned to India with Australia A Tanuj Pandey / © UPCA
Murphy also has an excellent record at the MCG. He has 10 Shield wickets at 23.70, striking at 55.80, but has not bowled a lot due to the dominance of Victoria’s seamers.
Western Australian offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli has been the leading spinner in Shield cricket in recent years with his extra height and bounce proving a handful for Shield batters on his home ground at the WACA. He has 20 wickets at 28.20, striking at 53.30 after taking 38 at 27.71 last season. Murphy and Rocchiccioli were also spin partners on Australia A’s recent tour of India but Kuhnemann was absent because he was touring with Australia’s T20I team.
Australia played an all-seam attack in the second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane but would be unlikely to do so in Melbourne.
