Australian coach Mickey Arthur has sent the team’s former No.1 slow bowler Nathan Lyon back to the nets to work on his technique, but insists the offspinner remains in good spirits.
The 20-Test tweaker was been dumped for the second Test against India in Hyderabad after taking 3-215 and 1-29 on a dustbowl pitch in the first Test in Chennai.
Lyon’s first-innings figures were the equal-second highest runs conceded by an Australian in a Test innings.
“No, not at all,” Arthur said on Sunday when asked whether Lyon was feeling crushed by his demotion for back-up spinner Xavier Doherty, who has taken 0-85 off 26 overs after the first two days of play in the second Test.
“Nathan and I have spoken at length about the summer he’s had and we’ve given him 19 consecutive Test matches.
“It doesn’t mean we don’t back him any more. We just think it was the right time after Chennai just to give him a little bit of a break.
“He had a couple of technical things that we wanted to work on a little bit away from the game but still being on tour which we’ve done.
“We are confident he will bounce back and come back really strong.
“Without a doubt, he is up there and we will continue to put the work into Nathan because we really value what he brings and we do think that he is a very good spin bowler.
“But sometimes you need to be left out to go back, reassess where you are as a bowler and work on a couple of things.”
Arthur — who is also a selector — says the 25-year-old Lyon has been told some home truths.
“We also felt he needed to come to terms with a couple of things and he’s done that,” Arthur said.
“He was ill yesterday and didn’t come to the ground. But he was here today (on Sunday) and he’ll get his strength up.
“I don’t want to go into what we are working on. There are one or two technical things plus we want him to get a little bit of confidence back.”