Nathan Lyon has revealed how Shane Warne’s sudden death spurred him to keep spin bowling “cool” as the battle heats up among Australia’s young tweakers to partner him during next year’s Test tour of Sri Lanka.

While there is no end date in sight for Lyon who has vowed to play for a long as he can, Australia’s greatest off-spinner revealed on Saturday ahead of NSW’s blockbuster Sheffield Shield clash against Victoria that he feels a responsibility to “fly the flag for spinners around the country”.

Competition is fierce behind the 36-year-old for the auxiliary spin spots in Australia’s squad for February’s two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, with Test-capped bowlers Todd Murphy, Mitch Swepson and Matthew Kuhnemann in contention, along with Corey Rocchiccioli and Tanveer Sangha after breakout domestic performances.

Murphy and Kuhnemann both excelled with maiden Test five-wicket hauls bowling in tandem with Lyon during last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India, while Rocchiccioli, whose home ground is the notoriously pace-friendly WACA Ground, banged the door down with 46 wickets last Shield season.

Since the passing of the legendary leg-spinner in 2022, Lyon – who needs another 34 wickets to become Australia’s second most prolific Test bowler behind Warne – believes it’s become his duty to promote spin bowling to the next generation of Australian cricketers.

The veteran played his first match since July in last week’s drawn season opener against South Australia after spending the winter during Australia’s eight-month hiatus between Test series playing county cricket for Lancashire where he worked closely with emerging English left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.

But it’s the young local talent like Sangha, who partnered him for NSW last week and shared 60 of the 102 overs on the final day between them, that excites him the most in his mission to ensure “spin stays cool” for future generations.

“It was probably a conversation with my dad after ‘Warnie’ passed,” Lyon said of the responsibility to fly the flag for Aussie spinners.

“Having that conversation and understanding that we’re role models in so many different ways to so many people around the world and if we can do our little bit to hopefully make people better cricketers or better people, then we’re doing our job.

“I feel like there’s a big role for me to ensure that spin stays cool in some way.

“I’m not cool in any way, but I can try and promote spin bowling and try and promote how great it is to be spin bowler and the opportunities that you have playing Test cricket around the world.”

Off-spinners Murphy and Rocchiccioli will both be part of the upcoming Australia A series against India A with the Victorian to play the opening four-day game in Mackay beginning on October 31 while Rocchiccioli spends time working with men’s spin coach Daniel Vettori who will be in Melbourne for first ODI against Pakistan.

The roles will then be reversed for the second Australia A match at the MCG on November 7 when Rocchiccioli joins the starting XI and Murphy heads to Adelaide where the second ODI is scheduled for November 8.

National men’s selection chair George Bailey told cricket.com.au this week the panel believed off-spin would be more important for the ‘A’ series in Australian conditions in case something happened to Lyon over the Test summer, but that wouldn’t exclude Swepson, Sangha and Kuhnemann coming into consideration on more spin-friendly pitches in Asia.

Lyon is thrilled by Australia’s current spin depth and is also bullish on his own form leading into this summer’s blockbuster five-Test series against India after collecting 5-47 and 3-94 from 63.3 overs in last week’s Shield opener.

“Tanveer, Matty Kuhnemann, ‘Swepo’, ‘Murph’ and Corey – there’s a whole heap of people putting their hand up and so they should,” Lyon said.

“Their performances in Shield cricket go a long way and trust me, there’s nothing better than playing Test cricket.

“Having an opportunity to play together (with Sangha) last week at Cricket Central (and) seeing him compete against Alex Carey and Travis Head who are at the top of their game is pretty cool.

“He’s a talent and he’s going to be a superstar of the game, so I’m trying to get better and help him along the way, and he’s helping me as well.

“I love coming out and playing with the younger guys, they keep a spring in your step and make you train harder to try and get better.”

Another putting their hand up for February’s Sri Lanka tour is off-spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell, who was left out of Victoria’s squad for tomorrow’s Shield clash with NSW following scores of 14 and 10 in a second XI match during the week.

Maxwell is in line to play Friday’s One-Day Cup clash against NSW that follows the Shield game, but Australia’s ODI and T20 series against Pakistan in November means his next opportunity against the red ball will likely be in Victoria’s round five and six fixtures against Queensland at the Gabba and MCG respectively.

“You would suggest that we’re going to get turning conditions (in Sri Lanka),” Australia men’s head coach Andrew McDonald said on ABC radio today.  “If we’ve taken anything (from the ongoing) Pakistan-England series where sweeping and reverse sweeping on spinning tracks is clearly an advantage, then Glenn Maxwell would definitely come into the conversation along with his prowess with the ball and in the field.

“The physical nature of (four- and five-day cricket) will be one thing he needs to tick off. He took a significant step forward during the week playing the second XI game … all reports are he’s pulled up well from that.

“That’s a big test for him in terms of what his leg (that he broke in late 2022) can take on physically, we’ve had to manage him in white-ball series as well.

“We’d love to see him play a Shield game and tested at a different intensity but we’re not there to force Victoria to choose certain teams at particular times.”

Lyon also backed McDonald and Bailey’s call to limit his county stint with Lancashire to seven matches after he initially signed for all three formats for the entire season, and says he is ready to shoulder as many extra overs as required against India in the absence of Cameron Green due to a back injury.

Joining Lyon in the NSW XI for Sunday’s match against Victoria are Test teammates Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc, while Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are expected to play in Friday’s one-day fixture at Junction Oval.

Lyon said he will play one more Shield game in round three against Queensland in Sydney, likely alongside Hazlewood, before switching his focus to India.

“I’m hungry and I know the rest of the guys are hungry to have that success that we’re after (against India),” he said. “They’ve outplayed us the last two times they’ve toured here.”

Sheffield Shield standings 2024-25

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 NSW Men NSW	1	0	0	1	0	0	1.66	1	3.66
2 Western Australia Men WA	1	0	0	1	0	0	1.75	0.7	3.45
3 Victoria Men VIC	1	0	0	1	0	0	1.5	0.5	3
4 Queensland Bulls QLD	1	0	0	1	0	0	1.26	0.7	2.96
5 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.96	0.7	2.66
6 South Australia Men SA	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.6	1	2.6

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points