Australia spinner Nathan Lyon to play first full county season with Lancashire -'I love playing cricket in England'

Lancashire have signed Australia spin-bowler Nathan Lyon for the 2024 season, in what will be his first full campaign in English domestic cricket.

The 36-year-old will be available to play for the county in all three formats of the game, and it also opens the possibility that he will have some involvement in The Hundred for the first time.

Lyon has 496 Test wickets, making him the third-highest of all time in Australian cricket, behind only Shane Warne and Glenn Maxwell. He has recently returned to action after tearing a calf muscle during the Ashes tour of England in the summer.

It will be the second time that Lyon will play in the county game, following a brief spell with Worcestershire in 2017. He also signed to play for Hampshire for the 2020 season, but Covid-19 meant that did not come to fruition.

“This is an exciting opportunity for me, and I am really looking forward to heading over to England for a full season of county cricket with Lancashire,” said Lyon.

“I love playing cricket in England. I’m keen to keep learning, keep improving my game and hopefully I can contribute to winning matches for the Red Rose and pass on some of the experiences that I have gained over the years throughout my career.

“They have a strong squad at Lancashire and Emirates Old Trafford is a really great venue to play cricket at, so I am looking forward to that. It will also be great to catch up with Jimmy Anderson too.”

If Lyon does line up in the same team as Anderson, Lancashire’s team will contain two players who feature in the top 10 of all-time Test wicket takers. But the England fast-bowler is likely to be away from his county for much of the summer, when he links up with the Test side for series’ against the West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively.

Lancashire, who are currently without a head coach following Glen Chapple’s resignation, finished fifth in the County Championship last season and were knocked out of the quarter-finals of both the T20 Blast and the One-Day Cup.

As well as his impact off the pitch, the club hope Lyon can also help to nurture younger spinners coming through.

“Nathan is an extremely skilled and experienced operator and, once we heard that he was available for the duration of next summer, we jumped at the opportunity to add him to our squad for the 2024 season,” said Mark Chilton, Lancashire's Director of Cricket Performance.

“His bowling record in both international and domestic cricket speaks for itself, and we believe that he will be an important player for us with the ball as we look to achieve our goals in all competitions.

“We have several young spin bowlers in our squad and for them to have the opportunity to learn from and play alongside somebody with almost 500 Test match wickets will be invaluable in their development and I am sure Nathan will play an equally significant role off the pitch as he will on it.”

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