Australia spinner Nathan Lyon threw down the gauntlet to England's batsmen on Wednesday, challenging them to hit him out of the attack at Adelaide Oval in the second Ashes test. With none of England's batsmen taking the attack to the off-spinner at the Gabba, Lyon invited them to go on the offensive at Adelaide Oval, where he helped bowl Australia to victory against South Africa a year ago. "I think if they did do that, it does definitely play into my hands," Lyon told reporters at the stadium. Born in rural New South Wales, Lyon was famously a groundsman at Adelaide Oval before being fast-tracked into the test team, so he knows the venue well. Lyon, however, was relishing the prospect of more turn and bounce in Adelaide after extracting plenty from the surprisingly slow and spongy Gabba pitch.

Source: dna November 29, 2017 11:04 UTC