Australia spinner Nathan Lyon planning to play spoilsport in Kiwi Kane Williamson's 100th Test
Focus for him is to play for next five years: Nathan Lyon's long-time trainer
Australia spinner Nathan Lyon is hoping to exploit New Zealand batter Kane Williamson's batting in the upcoming second Test of the ongoing two-match series. The second Trans-Tasman Test starts Friday (Mar 8) in Christchurch and will be Williamson's 100th for New Zealand. Lyon, who had dismissed Kane in the first Test, had said after the first match that he has spotted something in batter's technique against him. Australia, notably won the first Test by 172 runs.
“That was a plan (coming around the stumps), and it's nice when plans come off pretty well straight away. I've noticed something in Kane's batting against my bowling, so I tried to exploit that," Lyon said about Williamson's dismissal in the first Test. The Aussie, however, didn't reveal any further and said: “There's one Test to come, mate.”
Williamson, after the first Test, also acknowledged Lyon's skills and said ahead of his 100th Test: “Lyon is an incredible bowler and the surface in Wellington certainly was a competitive surface. It brought the spinners into play more than we thought going into it."
"And the quality he has, he certainly made the most of that and was quite a handful. As a player, you're always trying to improve, get better, adapt quickly,” he added.
New Zealand, meanwhile, are currently dealing with a strange situation around pacer Neil Wagner's retirement. The pacer had retired ahead of the first Test and former Kiwi batter Ross Taylor, on March 5, alleged that it was a forced retirement.
Williamson, however, refuted the claim and said: "I don't think anybody is forced to retire. I think last week, he had a fantastic week and it was reflecting on what was an incredible career."
"I think it all makes sense a little bit now. There's no sugarcoating it: I think it's a forced retirement. If you listen to Wagner's press conference, he was retiring, but it was after this last Test match [against Australia]. So he did make himself available," Taylor had said on a ESPN podcast about Wagner.
