Australian captain Pat Cummins heaped praise on Nathan Lyon following his match-winning spell against New Zealand in the 1st Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Cummins revealed telling Lyon about quitting captaincy when the off-spinner retires, given the wealth of skills he brings to the table with his skills.
Lyon spun a web around the Kiwi batters at the Basin Reserve as he took 6 wickets in the 4th innings to bowl Australia to a 172-run victory and a 1-0 lead with another Test to play. The 36-year-old finished with 10 wickets in the match to go with 4 in the first innings.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Cummins said there's not much to stop Lyon from playing until 2027 and would love for the veteran to be there. He elaborated, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"I'd love for him to keep going until 2027. I think the only barrier I think really is his body. I don't think there's much that's going to get in his way. I've already told him the day he retires I'm definitely giving up the captaincy because it makes my life a hell of a lot easier."
"I thought he was brilliant over the last couple of days bouncing through a few different plans" - Pat Cummins
Cummins further highlighted that Lyon brings a sense of calm in their camp as he keeps reinventing and coming up with different plans to outsmart the batters. He added:
"There's the real sense of calm out there when you know you've got someone that good on a wicket that's giving him a little bit of help. You can get creative with some of the field placements knowing he's going to land it exactly where you want it to. I thought he was brilliant over the last couple of days bouncing through a few different plans but just always felt like he was in control and always felt like we had Plan B, C, D that we could go to as well but never really felt like we had to. Yeah, an absolute dream."
The 2nd Test starts on 8th March in Christchurch.
