Nathan Lyon says England spinner Shoaib Bashir ‘could be a threat’ in Australia

Australia’s veteran spinner Nathan Lyon has praised England’s spin trio of Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed for their performance on the recently-concluded Test tour of India.

England although lost the five-match series 1-4, the spinners did manage to take wickets despite their inexperience. Hartley, in fact, was the second-highest wicket-taker in the series with 22 scalps in five matches and behind only India spinner Ravi Ashwin’s 26 wickets.

Talking about which English spinner stood out for him, Lyon said: “All three of them to be honest with you,” while speaking on the Willow Talk podcast.

Imad Wasim, Amir named in 29-man squad for training camp with Pakistan Army; UAE-bound Usman called up

“And I’m not just saying that to be kind. They had a pretty hard introduction into Test cricket. That’s one hell of a way to start your Test career, come over and bowl to Rohit [Sharma] and [Shubman] Gill and everyone else,” he added.

Lyon also thinks that off-spinner Bashir, who took 17 wickets in three games, could be a threat in Australia as well.

“Bashir looked like he had something special as well. I like that he went over the back of it [the ball], so he could be a threat down here for sure,” said Lyon about the lanky English spinner.

Apart from Hartley and Bashir, Rehan also chipped in with 11 wickets in three Tests on the tour. Lyon, meanwhile, is heading to English country Lancashire and is excited to play with Hartley.

“I’m looking forward to getting over to Lancashire and meeting Tom [Hartley] and bowling with him and just having discussions about left-arm [orthodox], right-arm offies is a pretty similar craft. It’s going to be interesting to see the mindset, his reflections. I’m looking forward to hopefully playing a bit with him over there as well which will be good,” said the Aussie spinner.

England will tour Australia for the Ashes in the 2025-26 season and will be looking to win their first series Down Under since the 2010-11 series.