When stand-in skipper Steve Smith announced the playing eleven for the Gabba Test, Nathan Lyon was the most notable omission. Lyon wasn’t pleased with the decision as he was dropped in a home Test for the first time in 13 years. McDonald said that the Australian team management values spin but the surfaces have been such that they have been forced to make a difficult call. McDonald ensured that Lyon’s presence is going to be crucial for the remainder of the Test series, starting Adelaide Test.
"I'll make this a headline: We still do value spin," McDonald told reporters on December 9 "The surfaces have pushed us in different directions. That's the first game that Nathan's missed in Australia for a long time. Has his impact been as great as previous seasons with the surfaces that we're playing on? Potentially not.
"I think Nathan is going to have an incredibly huge impact in the last three Test matches. If you look to what he did at the MCG last year (against India) when the surface became benign on day three onwards, he was able to navigate through that and hold down an end.
"And that's the rhythm we want. We want the spinner down one end and rotate three weeks. That's when we feel like we're at our best.
"But you sometimes can't play in spite of what's presented in front of you and some of those decisions have been difficult. They've been two pink-ball games that have put us in that position. So you can join the dots there."
Dropping Lyon in pink-ball Test works for Aussies
Lyon has been benched twice this year, both being pink-ball Tests. At The Gabba, local boy Michael Neser got the chance and the 35-year-old responded with a fifer in the second innings, ruling out a fightback from England.
"The pink ball game created different challenges and we put value on different areas of the game under lights," said the 44-year-old.
"The ability to have four quicks navigate through that night session, to be able to keep coming and maintain the pressure there, we felt like that was going to break the game open for us.
"The guys executed beautifully in that moment and that's what we built the team around. We got that opportunity and were able to take that."
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Lyon’s decreased workload
Before getting benched, the 38-year-old had bowled just two overs in the first innings. The veteran spinner's workload has decreased over a period of time. He is expected to bowl considerably lower number of overs than he did in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
"There's no right or wrong in this. People will sit down at the end of the Test match … and will still challenge it. We just valued different things in the pink-ball game, and unfortunately that meant that Nathan had to squeeze (out),” he continued.
"That's nothing to do with his skillset, it's not a reflection on where he's at from his own performance. It is a reflection on pink-ball cricket and a reflection on the surface that was presented to us.
"You're not ending someone's career in that space either. We still value Nathan incredibly and he'll have a big part to play in this series.
"He was disappointed at his non-selection and you'd expect any proud player to be disappointed that had a non-selection when they think they can impact the game … I get that. I'd be disappointed if he wasn't disappointed."
Lyon set to surpass McGrath
Lyon is yet to take a wicket in the Ashes 2025-26. If he takes two or more wickets in Adelaide Test, he will go past legendary Glenn McGrath (563) on the list of highest wicket-taker in Tests.