While there is no official confirmation on whether Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon will play any further part in the ongoing Ashes series after sustaining an injury on Day 2 of the Lord's Test match, as per a former Australian team doctor Peter Brukner, the 35-year-old may have played his last in the five-match series. If his remark indeed turns out to be true it will be a huge blow to the visitors who are 1-0 up in the five-match series. Lyon has been a loyal servant of Australian cricket and was playing his 100th consecutive Test match but hurt his calf on Thursday (June 29).
Lyon did go for scans later in the evening and an official medical bulletin is awaited. However, Brunken, who has een part of the Australian cricket team's medical setup in the past, reckons it would be very difficult for Lyon to recover in time to play any further part in the series. He believes that it might take the spinner a period of four to six weeks to heal completely.
"He’s (Lyon) basically out of the Ashes, I’d think. I don’t think we’ll see him again this series. It’s a disaster. It clearly was quite a severe one from the amount of disability he had straight away. It’s probably a pretty significant injury, I’d think," the ex-Australian team doctor told Sydney Morning Herald.
"The likelihood is it’s a significant muscle tear of the gastrocnemius – the bulky calf muscle. That will be associated with a significant amount of bleeding," he added.
Talking about the Lord's Test, the match hangs in fine balance at the moment with the Aussies having posted 416 in the first innings before reducing the hosts to 279/5 early on Day 3 of the second Test. Mitchell Starc has been the pick of the bowlers so far for the Kangaroos, having scalped 2 wickets already while Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Cameron Green have chippped in with a wicket each.