Exhausted Nathan Lyon can't break through in Australia's series of toil
It was his second-last over of the day. Nathan Lyon came in from around the wicket, wide on the crease, the ball angling in to pitch near the line of the stumps.
Rangana Herath was on strike, left-hand stance, the Sri Lankan number eight who by this fourth day of the final Test had outscored David Warner, Adam Voges, Usman Khawaja and eight other Australians in the series.
The ball pitched just in front of the bat but detonated a clod of dirt on the edge of a bowling footmark. It leapt into the edge then high to the right of slip, where Steve Smith held it.
After the over, Lyon didn't jog back to his place in the field. He stayed at the end of his follow-through, in a half squat. Hands pressed onto his knees, leaning forward, staring down the pitch.
At the end of Day 1, Lyon had mentioned his two-year old daughter: various baby Warners and Lyons and others were tumbling around the team hotel.
By Day 4, mid-pitch, this father now channelled them, the cream strides of his Test kit stretched between the thighs with a loaded-nappy look.
This was the same squat he had employed throughout the day when his appeals were turned down. When the ball evaded the edge, or the edge fell safe.
It appeared more frequently as the day wore on. Early it was frustration; late it was an attitude of exhaustion.
By day's end, Lyon had an innings return of 4-123. Good, but not enough. Not enough to contain Sri Lanka's imposing lead of 288, not enough for those two final wickets to ensure it couldn't grow.
In the first innings he'd returned 3-110. Good, but not enough. Not enough to curb Sri Lanka's fight back, scoring 355 across five patient sessions that took the home side from disaster to dominance.
87 overs already for off-spinner
Nathan Lyon has never bowled more than in that first innings. Fifty overs all told. He has once bowled as many: the famous fourth-innings resistance in Adelaide, when James Pattinson's injury and Matthew Wade's iron gloves helped South Africa drag out an epic draw.
Add his second innings from Colombo and it makes 87 for the match. Adelaide is his only match exceeding that, 94 overs all told. If Sri Lanka pushes on another hour on the final day he may pass that mark still.
Lyon opened the bowling in the second innings, sharing the new ball with Mitchell Starc late on Day 3. He sent down the first over of Day 4, then was kept on for 11 straight. Got a break for five overs, then back into operation.
Moises Henriques made this touring squad for his bowling as much as batting, but that evaporated once he hit the playing XI. His team-mates bowled 208 overs for the match before his first.
Finally, 67 overs into the second innings, the all-rounder was called upon to give the lead spinner respite. He dished up a dozen half-track plonkers, was milked for nine runs. Lyon sighed, pushed up his sleeves, and took the ball back. Thanks umpire, right-arm around.
Five more overs, unchanged, before he got Dinesh Chandimal in the 80th. A ball that straightened and skidded, with Smith's DRS referral ensuring his bowler got the leg-before decision.
Immediately the second new ball was taken. Starc commenced. Time for Josh Hazlewood, a change of tack? No. Australia's off-spinner was instructed to continue.
The 82nd over. The 84th. And so on. Herath fell in the 92nd, Lyon nearly fell over in the 94th. Another appeal turned down, another boundary driven, and at last, the oblivion of day's end.
Lyon's effort can't be faulted
Lyon is not used to this sort of toil. Aside from Adelaide and Colombo, only two other matches of his 57 have required him to bowl more than 70 overs, and two others have passed 60. His average overs per Test is 38.
Compare that to the host country's legend, Muttiah Muralitharan (133 Tests), who bowled 50 overs or more in 31 innings. He topped 80 overs for the match 13 times, passed 70 on 30 occasions, and bowled 60 or more in 55 of his matches. He averaged more than 55 overs per Test.
Different styles, different teams, different attacks: Murali carried his, and that physical resilience is probably more remarkable than his famous arm. The point is simply that, for Lyon, this series has been hard slog.
In Kandy he took his 200th Test wicket, the only Australian off-spinner to that mark, but with neither a win nor an eye-catching performance, there was little room to rhapsodise.
In Colombo, when he had Sri Lanka's captain Angelo Mathews caught off the top edge for the second time in the match, Lyon went past Stuart MacGill's tally of 208. Only three in Australia's spin pantheon lie ahead of him: Clarrie Grimmett (216), Richie Benaud (248), and the distant Shane Warne (708).
Absent in this series has been the match-defining performance of which those leg-spinners were capable. Sixteen wickets, yes, but costing nearly 10 overs and more than 30 runs apiece.
You cannot fault the off-spinner's effort, his commitment, his support of his team. The half-crouched figure at the end of the fourth day, hands on filthy knees, lay all of that clear.
Rangana Herath was on strike, left-hand stance, the Sri Lankan number eight who by this fourth day of the final Test had outscored David Warner, Adam Voges, Usman Khawaja and eight other Australians in the series.
The ball pitched just in front of the bat but detonated a clod of dirt on the edge of a bowling footmark. It leapt into the edge then high to the right of slip, where Steve Smith held it.
After the over, Lyon didn't jog back to his place in the field. He stayed at the end of his follow-through, in a half squat. Hands pressed onto his knees, leaning forward, staring down the pitch.
At the end of Day 1, Lyon had mentioned his two-year old daughter: various baby Warners and Lyons and others were tumbling around the team hotel.
By Day 4, mid-pitch, this father now channelled them, the cream strides of his Test kit stretched between the thighs with a loaded-nappy look.
This was the same squat he had employed throughout the day when his appeals were turned down. When the ball evaded the edge, or the edge fell safe.
It appeared more frequently as the day wore on. Early it was frustration; late it was an attitude of exhaustion.
By day's end, Lyon had an innings return of 4-123. Good, but not enough. Not enough to contain Sri Lanka's imposing lead of 288, not enough for those two final wickets to ensure it couldn't grow.
In the first innings he'd returned 3-110. Good, but not enough. Not enough to curb Sri Lanka's fight back, scoring 355 across five patient sessions that took the home side from disaster to dominance.
87 overs already for off-spinner
Nathan Lyon has never bowled more than in that first innings. Fifty overs all told. He has once bowled as many: the famous fourth-innings resistance in Adelaide, when James Pattinson's injury and Matthew Wade's iron gloves helped South Africa drag out an epic draw.
Add his second innings from Colombo and it makes 87 for the match. Adelaide is his only match exceeding that, 94 overs all told. If Sri Lanka pushes on another hour on the final day he may pass that mark still.
Lyon opened the bowling in the second innings, sharing the new ball with Mitchell Starc late on Day 3. He sent down the first over of Day 4, then was kept on for 11 straight. Got a break for five overs, then back into operation.
Moises Henriques made this touring squad for his bowling as much as batting, but that evaporated once he hit the playing XI. His team-mates bowled 208 overs for the match before his first.
Finally, 67 overs into the second innings, the all-rounder was called upon to give the lead spinner respite. He dished up a dozen half-track plonkers, was milked for nine runs. Lyon sighed, pushed up his sleeves, and took the ball back. Thanks umpire, right-arm around.
Five more overs, unchanged, before he got Dinesh Chandimal in the 80th. A ball that straightened and skidded, with Smith's DRS referral ensuring his bowler got the leg-before decision.
Immediately the second new ball was taken. Starc commenced. Time for Josh Hazlewood, a change of tack? No. Australia's off-spinner was instructed to continue.
The 82nd over. The 84th. And so on. Herath fell in the 92nd, Lyon nearly fell over in the 94th. Another appeal turned down, another boundary driven, and at last, the oblivion of day's end.
Lyon's effort can't be faulted
Compare that to the host country's legend, Muttiah Muralitharan (133 Tests), who bowled 50 overs or more in 31 innings. He topped 80 overs for the match 13 times, passed 70 on 30 occasions, and bowled 60 or more in 55 of his matches. He averaged more than 55 overs per Test.
Different styles, different teams, different attacks: Murali carried his, and that physical resilience is probably more remarkable than his famous arm. The point is simply that, for Lyon, this series has been hard slog.
In Kandy he took his 200th Test wicket, the only Australian off-spinner to that mark, but with neither a win nor an eye-catching performance, there was little room to rhapsodise.
In Colombo, when he had Sri Lanka's captain Angelo Mathews caught off the top edge for the second time in the match, Lyon went past Stuart MacGill's tally of 208. Only three in Australia's spin pantheon lie ahead of him: Clarrie Grimmett (216), Richie Benaud (248), and the distant Shane Warne (708).
Absent in this series has been the match-defining performance of which those leg-spinners were capable. Sixteen wickets, yes, but costing nearly 10 overs and more than 30 runs apiece.
You cannot fault the off-spinner's effort, his commitment, his support of his team. The half-crouched figure at the end of the fourth day, hands on filthy knees, lay all of that clear.
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