'Disappointed' Lyon clips Cricket Australia directive

Veteran bowler Nathan Lyon has taken a swipe at Cricket Australia for ordering him home from England prematurely.

The 36-year-old is one of a number of Aussies to have flown to England to play the County Championship during a period of downtime for Australia’s men’s teams.

But while he initially planned on staying for the entire English season, the governing body back home put a limit of just seven games on his County stint.

That’s despite Australia’s national squads having nothing scheduled until the Twenty20 World Cup in June, which Lyon is unlikely to be involved in.

Cricket Australia’s reasoning was reportedly to preserve the off-spinner for next summer’s Test series against India, which begins in November.

“Yeah, it’s definitely not my call,” Lyon told BBC Lancashire.

“That’s the nature of the beast. It’s a business now and Cricket Australia have come over the top and said they want to manage me and hopefully extend my playing career for the next three to four years, whatever it may be.

“It’s disappointing, because I signed here wanting to play all games and even play some T20 cricket and was thoroughly looking forward to that.