Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon outlines Lancashire goals after signing for 2024 season

Lyon has plenty of experience in England and appeared for Worcestershire in 2017

George Sessions
Thursday 30 November 2023 07:59 EST
Comments
Nathan Lyon will spend the whole of next summer at Lancashire (Nick Potts/PA)
Nathan Lyon will spend the whole of next summer at Lancashire (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Lancashire have secured the services of Australia bowler Nathan Lyon for the duration of the 2024 season.

Lyon will spend the whole of next summer at Emirates Old Trafford in what will be his second LV = Insurance County Championship stint.

Off-spinner Lyon, who has claimed 496 Test wickets, played for Worcestershire in 2017 and helped them to promotion from Division Two.

“This is an exciting opportunity for me and I am really looking forward to heading over to England for a full season of county cricket with Lancashire,” Lyon said.

“I love playing cricket in England. I’m keen to keep learning, keep improving my game and hopefully I can contribute to winning matches for the Red Rose and pass on some of the experiences that I have gained over the years throughout my career.

“They have a strong squad at Lancashire and Emirates Old Trafford is a really great venue to play cricket at, so I am looking forward to that. It will also be great to catch up with Jimmy Anderson too.”

Lyon played twice in the drawn Ashes series in England earlier this summer before he suffered a calf injury at Lord’s, which sidelined the off-spinner until October.

Prior to that injury, Lyon had made 100 consecutive Test appearances for Australia and he has taken the third-most wickets for his country behind Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Lancashire, who are without a head coach following the departure of Glen Chapple in September, will have Lyon available for the start of the County Championship in April after his Test commitments with Australia are wrapped up in March following a two-match series in New Zealand.

Mark Chilton, Lancashire director of cricket performance, added: “Nathan is an extremely skilled and experienced operator and, once we heard that he was available for the duration of next summer, we jumped at the opportunity to add him to our squad for the 2024 season.

“His bowling record in both international and domestic cricket speaks for itself, and we believe that he will be an important player for us with the ball as we look to achieve our goals in all competitions.

“We have several young spin bowlers in our squad and for them to have the opportunity to learn from and play alongside somebody with almost 500 Test match wickets will be invaluable in their development and I am sure Nathan will play an equally significant role off the pitch as he will on it.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in