‘We still do value spin’: Australia head coach McDonald responds to Lyon’s ‘filthy’ omission in Brisbane Test

“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,” he added.

Earlier, Lyon minced no words and displayed his disappointment, saying he had not yet been able to bring himself to speak to selectors about the decision.

When asked for his opinion, he summed up his feelings bluntly: “Absolutely filthy,” he told the official broadcaster Channel 7, using local slang for anger. “But yeah, can’t do anything about it. So, I hope I can play my role in making sure I get the guys ready and do whatever I can to make sure that we get the right result here.”

“I just hadn’t had it in me to sit down with the coach and George at the moment,” he added. “So that will happen. I’m not the first player to miss a Test match and I won’t be the last. But, yeah, obviously pretty gutted because I know the role that I can play within Australian cricket and especially at a venue like this,” said Lyon.

‘Lyon will have huge impact’

McDonald said Lyon will have a huge impact in the last three Test matches of the Ashes as Australia lead the five-match Test series 2-0, having dominated the Ben Stokes side in the Perth and Brisbane Tests.

“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,” said the head coach.

“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,” he added.

One of Australia’s most successful bowlers with 562 Test wickets, Lyon was omitted from a home Test for the first time since 2012. Selectors opted for an all-pace attack, bringing in Michael Neser ahead of the off-spinner.

McDonald offered insight into Australia’s call to play Neser over Lyon in Brisbane, explaining Australia wanted to go all in on pace bowling in the hope they would get to bowl at England with a new ball at night.