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Cricket Australia
has banned Nathan Lyon’s desire to play white-ball cricket for Lancashire and
informed him that he will only be permitted to play half of the County
Championship season. Lyon was supposed to play in every format, but CA wants to
control his workload in preparation for their final-year home Test series
against India.
Lyon will only be permitted to participate in seven of their first nine
Championship games, according to a Lancashire announcement made on Wednesday.
He is scheduled to arrive in Manchester the following week, in time for their
April 5 opening game against the reigning champions, Surrey. He will be
available until July 3 when they play Nottinghamshire.
After choosing to
thwart Aaron Hardie’s early-season contract with Surrey, Lyon becomes the
second player that CA has pulled out of a county contract this month. However,
George Bailey, the chairman of selectors for Australia, said on Thursday that
Hardie’s choice was not influenced by CA.
“Naturally, we are disappointed that Nathan will no longer be joining us
for the full 2024 season,” Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket,
said. “However, we are still incredibly excited to be able to welcome him
for seven matches in the Vitality County Championship.
“After speaking with Nathan since this decision was taken, I know that he
is still really excited about joining up with us and remains very committed to
Lancashire Cricket, supporting the group and helping us to achieve our goals
this summer.”
Chilton said
Lancashire are in talks to secure a replacement overseas player for the T20
Blast and One-Day Cup. “We are now assessing our options regarding
overseas players and a number of discussions are currently taking place on that
front,” he said.