Steve Smith rues Nathan Lyon injury: ‘Hopefully I won’t have to bowl too much’ | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: After notching his 32nd Test century for Australia earlier in the day, Steve Smith found himself in an unfamiliar role of bowling the final few deliveries to England captain Ben Stokes. It was an unusual sight as Smith, seemingly reluctant, skipped in to perform this task, displaying his aversion towards it.
“Hopefully I won’t have to bowl too much,” he told reporters, having stepped in just before the close of the second day of the second Ashes Test to relieve Australia’s tired fast bowlers following an injury to their regular spinner Nathan Lyon.
In his remarkable 100th consecutive Test appearance for the visiting team, Lyon experienced a setback during his run-up while trying to catch a ball. It was evident that he had strained his right calf.

Consequently, Steve Smith took charge of the final over of the day, following a brief spell of spin bowling from Travis Head.
“I haven’t been working on my bowling at all!” Smith said with a laugh when asked about his single-over stint.
“I thought Heady bowled alright. Heady’s probably the one that’s going to have a take a fair chunk of the spin, and then maybe myself and Marnus (Labuschagne) will chop in here and there,” he added when asked about the team’s options for the rest of the Lord’s Test.
England’s Ben Duckett said the home side sent their best wishes to Lyon, an opponent they clearly respect.
“I really hope it’s not too bad for him. You never want see anyone go down with an injury. He was going to play a massive role in that fourth innings, he’s such a good bowler,” Duckett told reporters.

“It’ll be interesting to see how they go about it. If they keep going bonkers with all four (fast) bowlers they’ll be pretty tired by the end of it,” he said.
Smith said he felt the Australia squad had the resources it needed if Lyon’s injury were to put him out of action for any length of time, however.
“He could be a huge loss. However we’ve got Todd Murphy waiting in the wings. He’s been bowling beautifully in the nets,” he said.
“I’d be confident if he came in he’d do a terrific job for us. But fingers crossed Nathan’s alright.”
(With inputs from Reuters)