(Reuters) – Australia’s Nathan Lyon will miss the remainder of the Ashes series against England due to a calf tear suffered while fielding during the second test at Lord’s, Cricket Australia said on Monday.
Lyon sustained the injury while fielding on the second day of the test on Thursday. He hobbled out to bat at number 11 on Saturday, scoring four runs and sharing a partnership of 15 with Mitchell Starc.
Australia were hampered by his absence as he was unable to bowl but went on to win the test by 43 runs on Sunday.
With no replacements for Lyon included in the revised 16-player squad, fellow off-spinner Todd Murphy is likely to come into the side following an impressive debut test series in India earlier this year.
Australia coach Andrew McDonald said it was “too early to tell” if Murphy would be an automatic replacement for Lyon but added he would prefer to have a specialist spinner included in the team to balance out the attack.
“Todd is very well placed,” McDonald said. “We like to have a spinner in our attack. It’s a different balance.
“As you saw (on Sunday) at certain times, we had to do it differently without Nathan Lyon down the other end, which we’ve been so used to. At times it looked a bit chaotic.”
Lyon took eight wickets in Australia’s win at the series opener at Edgbaston and was playing in his 100th consecutive test at Lord’s.
The third test of the five-match series begins at Headingley on Thursday.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (captain), Steven Smith, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Marcus Harris, Mitchell Marsh, Jimmy Peirson
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Sonali Paul)
