As much as Starc made a big mark with his 5-wicket haul, Lyon as much as he bowled well is not being lethal enough on this wearing last day wickets. Yes of course with a bowler down in both adelaide & this test he bowled a lot & yes he @ least look capable of probably rolling over a side on a wearing 4th/5th day wicket compared to that dud nathan haurtiz - but he needs to do it in a test before the ashes for his confidence sake.
Siddle now is clearly the go to bowler & pattinson when fit will play. Hilfy is under pressure after Starc efforts since having a potent left-arm bowler who can swing it & 90mph is always useful.
Lyon's looked OK - good in patches, but those patches seem frustratingly brief. But I differ from you, I thought Hauritz looked OK as well...Lyon probably has more potential though, he's younger and less experienced than Hauritz was when he got recalled, so more room to grow for Lyon.
Starc needs to get it right to the top order before I start getting too excited about his bowling at the tail. Outside his 2 lovely inswingers to Kallis and Peterson in Perth, he's been struggling to trouble the genuine batsmen. It's been bouncers and yorkers that have got him wickets: Dilshan and Karunaratne with yorkers in Hobart, Kallis and Smith with bouncers in Perth. That's not really a sustainable bowling plan vs top order players.
So Starc is rested.....
Anyone wanna talk about the rotation?
The selectors are bonkers for resting Starc. It didn't do hilf any good.
The other option was doing what happened in the first series, potentially having to rest both your best bowlers because of back to back Tests. This way at least they know Starc will be fit and ready for Sydney. If Siddle is too, it will be a bonus.
I just think the selectors would stop a LOT of bitching, angst, uncertainty etc. among media, fans AND players if they just had an actual rotation system in place. Eg. for every 3 Test series you pick 4 pacemen and pacemen 2,3 & 4 all rest for one Test each. Pacemen 1 to rest only if needed (paceman 1 is obviously Siddle at this point). That way everyone gets a go, everyone gets some rest. You build depth and give experience to more players. The downside is that you don't play your 'best' XI every match, but that rarely happens these days anyway because someone is always injured. Look at what they do in baseball with their pitchers, they are all on some kind of rotation even when it gets to the playoffs.
Mitchell Johnson also comes into the XI, in place of injured Ben Hilfenhaus.
