London: An injured Nathan Lyon hobbled to the batting crease and helped Australia add 15 runs to pad their lead against England to 370 runs by tea on the fourth day of the second Ashes test on Saturday. Lyon was the last man out for 4 runs, his incredible cameo finishing Australia's second innings on 279. The target for England was 371 in what would be a record successful run chase at Lord's.
Lyon suffered a significant strain late Thursday and has been on crutches ever since. The specialist spinner wasn't expected to play any further part in the test, and the crowd was stunned when he was seen padded up as Australia's innings was winding up. He walked on to the field to an ovation and gutsed out 27 minutes in the middle. He painfully ran a single for Starc and hit a boundary off Stuart Broad.
Read: Big score for "fast learner" Marnus in offing as Ponting lends support
Lyon helped Mitchell Starc, on 4 at the time, score 11 more runs that Australia believed were vital. Last summer, England chased down 378 against India at Edgbaston. In an extraordinary middle session, Australia added only 57 runs in 31.1 overs. After losing Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Travis Head in the morning, Australia refused to engage with the short-pitched bowling after lunch.
That turned the match into stalemate for a long time. The 1.98-meter (6-foot-6) Cameron Green and Alex Carey had no problems ducking, and were content to nudge the odd ball. Meanwhile, the English persisted. Ollie Robinson had five maidens in his first six overs. Captain Ben Stokes bowled for the first time in the innings and was conceding only two runs an over.
Green finally lost patience. His first attempted pull hit him on the helmet. The second pull was caught in the deep by Ben Duckett off Robinson. Green lasted 67 balls for his 18. Robinson then got Carey, who defended a short ball that popped to Joe Root at short leg. Carey went 73 balls for his 21. Stokes should have had Australia captain Pat Cummins on 8 but he overstepped.
However, Cummins fell for 11 when he hit a riser from Broad straight to Duckett in the deep. Stokes finally got a wicket when Josh Hazlewood, on 1, gave a simple catch to Root, his third of the innings at short leg. Stokes bowled 12 straight overs from lunch for 1-26. Robinson took 2-7 from nine straight overs. Broad finished with 4-65. (AP)
