Australian ‘Goat’ is a shadow of his former self
Australian spinner was once a destructive force but now concedes runs freely as South Africa set up a gripping final day at Newlands
In between times, Lyon added just a solitary wicket, clean bowling Harmer with a sharply turning off-break. Yet even this wicket was tinged with a certain frustration: Harmer has been far more threatening with the ball than Lyon in this test.
Should the trend continue on day five, Harmer will bowl South Africa to victory. Australia have five left-handers for Harmer to attack; with his drift in the air and turn off the pitch, he can also be a menace to right-handers.
Lyon’s final figures of two for 101 from 44 overs of toil sharpened his frustrations. While Scott Boland took five for 81 in the second test, when Lyon was absent, the off-spinner’s six wickets this series have cost 43.6 apiece. Lyon has needed 109 deliveries – 18.1 overs – to prize out each South African wicket.
These are not isolated frustrations. When Bangladesh shocked Australia in Darwin in August, Lyon took one for 125 from 36 overs in the test.
Lyon’s regular absences from Australia’s first-choice XI have been blamed on the surfeit of grass-tinged pitches that no longer demand a specialist spinner. Yet Australia’s willingness to drop Lyon also reflects a simple truth: his bowling is no longer as effective.
In his past 16 tests, going back to the 2024‐25 home summer, Lyon has taken 47 wickets, fractionally under three per test. The benchmark for test bowlers is at least four wickets per match – especially when, like Lyon, their contribution is relatively meagre with the bat or in the field.
Aged 38, and after suffering a series of calf and hamstring injuries in recent years, Lyon has been weighed down by the sheer toil of his remarkable test career. Only four men have ever bowled more than Lyon’s 35,771 deliveries in test cricket.
How many more balls Lyon will deliver while wearing his cherished baggy green is an increasingly unavoidable question. Australia’s relentless 12 months of test cricket – at least 20 matches in the year from this August – will deprive players of scope for recovery between games, and could thereby accelerate the end of careers.
