Nathan Lyon in ‘nasty’ mood after Test omission as Crawley hails ‘phenomenal’ Root

Nathan Lyon admitted he was furious after being dropped by Australia for the first time in 13 years at home Tests as the Ashes battle resumed in Brisbane on Thursday.

In his absence, Joe Root plundered the home side’s attack for an unbeaten 135 on the first day at the Gabba, his 40th Test century and his first on Australian soil, a performance Zak Crawley described as “one of his best”.

Lyon, Australia’s third-highest Test wicket-taker of all time, described his mood as “absolutely nasty” as he came to terms with being dismissed. “I’m letting things settle in my mind and trying to make sure I do everything I can to make sure the guys representing Australia do the right thing and get the right result for us,” he said.

“I’m not the first player to miss a Test match and I won’t be the last. But I’m obviously quite gutted because I know the role I can play, especially in a venue like this.”

Australian chairman of selectors George Bailey attempted to assuage Lyon’s anger by guaranteeing him a place in the XI for the third Test. Bailey described the move as a “one-test decision”, adding: “Nath will not agree with the decision, and that is perfectly fine. I have no problem with players feeling they can influence the game and the fact is he could. It is effectively a one-test decision, Nath will be playing in Adelaide.”

Crawley admitted England were surprised by the decision to leave Lyon out, while Mitchell Starc, who added six first-innings wickets to the 10 he took in Perth, said: “It’s a tough ask for Nath. Everyone wants to play every game and I’m sure he will be disappointed. It’s certainly not a reflection on his skills. They looked at the circumstances and made the choice for this attack based on those circumstances.”

Root came to the crease in the third over, with England reeling at five for two, after both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were dismissed without scoring, and unbeaten at stumps with England 325 for nine. “He played fantastically well, assessed the conditions, soaked up some pressure and got the result,” Starc said. “We’ve had a lot of good battles – he’s won a few and I’ve won a few and today we both got some runs and wickets so we’ll call it a draw.”

Crawley, who scored 76 to join Root in a third-wicket partnership of 117, said the Yorkshireman’s performance was “brilliant”. “I’m forgetting a few of his hundreds, that’s how many he has,” said the England opener. “But it’s a phenomenal blow. He did it enough when he first came in and he was so calm and he was so clear about how he wanted to go about it. It has to be right there. If you take everything into consideration, it has to be one of his best.”

After England lost three wickets for 13 runs and five for 54, Root and Jofra Archer added a quickfire, 44-ball 61 in an unbroken last wicket stand to leave the tourists happy with their position at stumps.

“We said we had to go really fast and it was a win-win situation: if we can do it, we get quick runs, or if they come out we can engage them under lights,” Crawley said. “So it was a perfect situation for us. They are valuable runs, but we would have done it anyway. We were quite happy with the 260 and honestly had an hour to spare, but I think we definitely won that last hour, so we are confident going into tomorrow.”