Australian veteran Nathan Lyon said he was “absolutely gutted” after learning he had been left out of the second Test of the Ashes series against England in Brisbane on Thursday. Lyon also clarified whether he had spoken to the Australian team management following the decision.Australia opted for a full-tempo attack for the Brisbane Test, skipping Lyon. The team made two changes from the eight-wicket win in the opening Test in Perth. Michael Neser started for Lyon and Josh Inglis replaced injured opener Usman Khawaja.
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Lyon said he did not learn of his omission until the morning of the game.“I found out when I got to the ground, as always, quite early, about 12 o’clock, and I found out about 12.30,” Nathan Lyon told 7Cricket.George Bailey, chairman of Australia’s national selection panel, said the pace of recent Test matches had limited Lyon’s chance to influence games on seam-friendly surfaces.In response, Lyon said he had not yet had a detailed interview with team management and was processing the decision.“No, yes, absolutely dirty, but, yes, there’s nothing you can do about it. So yeah, I just hope I can play my part in making sure I can prepare the guys and do everything I can to make sure we get the right result here,” Lyon said.“To be honest, I haven’t really sat down with Ronnie (Andrew McDonald) or George yet. I’m letting things settle in my head and trying to make sure that, as I said, I do everything to make sure the guys in the middle, representing Australia, do the right thing and get the right result for us,” Lyon added.“Communication is always there, I just haven’t had the opportunity to sit down with the coach and George at the moment,” Lyon said, adding: “It’s going to happen. I’m not the first player to miss a Test match and I won’t be the last. But yeah, obviously I’m pretty gutted because I know the role I can play in Australian cricket and especially in a place like this.”On the first day of the match, Joe Root scored his first Test century in Australia and his 40th overall, taking England past 300 runs in the first innings.
