Roaring Lyon's 'privilege'

Aussie honoured to get Tendulkars wicket

Before the fourth day of the Adelaide Test, Nathan Lyon had taken only two wickets from two Tests, but on Friday he grabbed the cherished wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag to rattle India, and pushed Australia close to a 4-0 series win.

“There's plenty of rough for the spinners. So hopefully I will be able to play more of a role tomorrow," said Lyon. "We're starting to see some natural variation and some spin and the ball is starting to keep low. I've felt I've bowled reasonably okay the whole summer. It's just good to be able to contribute to hopefully a team's victory," he added.

On Sehwag’s dismissal Lyon said, "It probably wasn't my best ball. I'm not going to call him back. That's for sure. Ponting came up to me just before that ball and said 'do him in the air' so I was pretty happy about it.”

Lyon said he was proud of taking Tendulkar’s wicket. “It's been an absolute privilege to get him out.” In the final over of the day, bowled by Lyon, Australian skipper employed nine fielders around the batsmen, and the offie said it was a new experience for him to bowl to such a field.

“To have that many fielders around the bat is something I've never done before. It didn't work but we'll give it a crack another time, hopefully,” he said.

In the not so distant past, Lyon had worked as a groundsman at the Adelaide Oval, and the local boy said he has been relishing the time as a national player.

"It's been a different type of fence, you could say right now. I'm enjoying the Test match rather than sitting on the roller watching it. It's been a fantastic experience in front of the home crowd, and I've enjoyed every moment of it," the off-spinner said.

Lyon also dismissed the notion that India was an average team. "I wouldn't say India's an average team. They're full of great cricketers, and we still have got a lot of work to do. Australia's heading in the right direction," he said.