Australian spinner Nathan Lyon has recently opened up about his retirement plans. It was speculated that Lyon might draw curtains on his international career following the 2024-25 Ashes series. Many thought the 36-year-old would follow in the footsteps of the legendary Shane Warne, who announced his retirement after featuring in the final Ashes Test in 2007.
Lyon rubbished those claims during a chat with New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird at the Sydney Cricket Ground on August 18.
The NSW government and Cricket Australia have recently signed a seven-year agreement. As part of the deal, Mike Baird has pledged to raise tens of millions of dollars to promote community cricket in the country. The Australian board has also planned to enhance the iconic Sydney Test– the last match of the Ashes summer.
During the conversation, Nathan Lyon was asked if he would retire after playing his last international match at the SCG like Shane Warne, who donned the whites for Australia in 145 Tests and picked 708 wickets. Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game.
Lyon has already played 129 Tests during his career and looks confident of continuing for a few more years. About the rumours about his retirement after the home Ashes, the off-spinner said, “It’s too early,” as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Nathan Lyon shared his experience of playing County Cricket for Lancashire in the last few months. It also helped him take note of how England players were chalking out their plans for the upcoming Ashes series.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time in England being inside the Lancs change room, listening to guys talk about the Ashes, talk about the way they’re planning, the way they’re going to approach winning out here. I had some really good chats with Tom Hartley about different ways that he went about it with different guys, which I found quite interesting,” Lyon explained.
Australia showed their dominance in the last three Ashes series on home soil. It was in 2011 when England last time won a Test match Down Under. In their next big assignment, Australia will host India in a five-match Test series, slated to begin on November 22 in Perth.
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