Bailey says Lyons' shock omission from Gabba Test 'very much a one-Test decision'

Brisbane, Dec 4 Australia chief selector George Bailey has said that Nathan Lyon’s omission from the second Ashes Test against England at the Gabba was based on conditions and clarified it was "very much a one-Test decision", guaranteeing that the veteran off-spinner will play the third Test in Adelaide.

Australia made a bold selection call for the pink-ball Test at the Gabba, as they made two changes to the side that won in Perth, with Michael Neser replacing Lyon and Josh Inglis replacing injured opener Usman Khawaja.

Neser joins Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland and Brendan Doggett, as well as all-rounder Cameron Green, as Australia opt for an all-out pace attack for the Gabba Test.

Lyon was left out of an Australia side for the first time in a home Test since 2012, while the hosts were also still without captain Pat Cummins for the second Ashes Test in Brisbane.

Lyon, who was also left out of Australia's previous day-night Test against the West Indies in July, has a strong record at the Gabba, taking 52 wickets at a tick under 29, and has 43 wickets at 25.63 with the pink ball.

"Very much it’s a one-Test decision – Nath will play in Adelaide. It’s how you think you’ll structure up the resources and how they’re going to be used, when it gets dark here, when you think you’re going to be using seam bowlers, how many overs will get bowled in the day, when you think the new ball will be available, that sort of stuff," Bailey said during play on day one.

Bailey also revealed how close Australia's captain Pat Cummins was to playing in Brisbane. The pacer was touted for a potential return for the day-night match, but remains out through injury.

Cummins, who missed the first Test victory in Perth while continuing to rehab and recover from a back stress injury, rejoined the Australian squad in Brisbane but was not named in the 14-player squad.

This week Cummins progressed to bowling on consecutive days as part of his return from his lumbar stress injury. He was bowling again in the Gabba nets on Thursday as medicos gradually give him a longer leash.

"He's going to bowl a certain amount of overs this week. So it's like, 'Well, if you're going bowl them here (in the nets), can it be there (in the Test)?

"The key factors were, what does that look like for post this (Test), and are you accentuating that risk going forward? Then what are the uncontrollables in a game and does that put other players under pressure? It was going to be a hard number of overs.

"Once we got up here, saw his training, got as much of the background medical information as well, it became a live possibility. Then it was just working through the permutations of what would that look like in terms of the amount of overs, what would it look like going forward as well? It became a live conversation, hence probably leaving some of the other decisions until late," Bailey said.

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