By News18
Nathan Lyon is not planning to retire 鈥榓nytime soon鈥 or even thinking about it, even though he has passed on the tradition of Australia鈥檚 victory song, 鈥楿nder The Southern Cross I Stand鈥, to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Lyon said he wants to win an away Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India and an away Ashes against England, while another World Test Championship (WTC) final 鈥 2027 in England 鈥 is on his cards.
Lyon has been Australia鈥檚 lead spinner for 13 years and is considered the greatest after Shane Warne. He was 18 Tests old when Mike Hussey handed over the song duties to him in 2013. A tradition started by the late Rod Marsh, Lyon has championed the tradition for 119 Tests, although Carey stood in for him briefly during the 2023 Ashes when the spinner was injured.
鈥淚鈥檝e been very honoured to first lead the song, but to have it for 12, 13 years, it鈥檚 been one of the biggest highlights of my career,鈥 Lyon said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. 鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking about it for a while now, but this definitely doesn鈥檛 mean I鈥檓 retiring anytime soon. There鈥檚 no talk about me retiring or even thoughts coming in my head,鈥 he added.
鈥淚鈥檝e always said I want to win away in India, and I want to win away in England. Obviously, we鈥檝e got that opportunity in a couple of years鈥 time, but we鈥檝e also got to take it Test by Test and make sure we鈥檙e doing everything here and getting the games here in West Indies right. Then we鈥檝e got a massive summer at home with the Ashes. But also, another World Test Championship final will be on my cards,鈥 Lyon said.
The spinner also explained why he thought Carey, 41 Tests into his career and one of the most important players in the team, was the 鈥榩erfect鈥 successor.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more about the team environment and making sure that I get the opportunity to pass it on to someone who I look at and absolutely love and the way he goes about it on and off the field,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 just feel like Alex is the perfect candidate. I feel like I ran my race with it and it鈥檚 time for someone else to put their touch on it.鈥
Australia are currently playing in the West Indies and leading the three-Test series 1-0. Lyon is one of the only two players, alongside Mitchell Starc to have survived in the team that visited here in 2012.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot of hard work that goes in behind the scenes that a lot of people don鈥檛 see,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut I was sitting on the balcony this morning thinking, s**t, I was here in 2012.鈥