3 times a mid-series injury to a key player derailed an Ashes campaign for Australia

Nathan Lyon picked up a calf injury on Day 2 of the second Ashes Test at Lord's and it would have certainly sent shivers of worry down the Aussie spines.

Close to his 500th Test wicket, Lyon holds one end for Australia on the initial days of Tests, allowing the skipper to rotate the four big quicks from the other. On days three, four, and five, he takes the lead role and gets more proficient by the minute.

He arrived at the stadium on Friday on crutches, all but confirming that he won't participate in the Test anymore. Australia thus will have to make do with Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne's part-time spin.

There's no confirmation if Lyon will be fit for the rest of the series. Australia have Todd Murphy, who bowled well in India in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as a backup in the team but he hasn't bowled in the Ashes yet. And although the visitors are leading 1-0, this injury can quickly change the complexion of the rubber.

This isn't the first time Australia has found themselves in this position. Here are three other instances where a mid-Ashes injury proved to be detrimental for them:

#3 Simon Katich

In the 2010-11 Ashes, played in Australia, opener Simon Katich picked up an Achiles heel injury in the second Test at Adelaide, in what turned out to be the last match of his career.

Although Australia lost the match, Katich won plaudits for fielding and scoring 43 (85) in the second innings while battling the injury.

A young Phil Hughes replaced him in the next three Tests but didn't score more than 35 runs in any of the six innings. He got a start almost every time but failed to convert. Australia won the third Test to level the series 1-1 but were thrashed in the next two and the pair of Hughes and Shane Watson just never turned up.

Katich proved to be a big miss. He was a much-more assured batter against pace and formed a brilliant partnership with Watson.

The leftie had scored a half-century in the rain-marred first Test and though he didn't have a great tour of India before the Ashes, he had scored 796 runs that year, including two tons, at 46.82.

#2 Steve Smith

Steve Smith down after getting hurt by a Jofra Archer bouncer in 2019.

Steve Smith is piling on the runs in the 2023 Ashes, like he often does against England. He did the same in 2019, which was his first since the sandpaper incident, amid jeers and deafening boos from the crowds wherever he went. Australia won the first Test courtsey of twin 140s from him in a stunning comeback.

He was on course for a big one in the second Test again when while batting at 80 (151) a brutal 148 kmph bouncer from Jofra Archer struck him in the back of the neck.

He lied on his back for a few minutes, stood up, gave a few concussion tests and retired out. But that wasn't the end of him in the Test. Seeing Australia in trouble at 218/7, he came to bat again and got out after scoring 12 more.

Marnus Labuschagne came in as the first ever concussion substitute in the second innings and a fifty sprung up his career but Smith was ruled out of the next match, at Headingley.

Labuschagne scored two half-centurie but most other Australian batters failed, allowing England to sneak the famous one-wicket win on Day 5.

#1 Glenn McGrath

Not many remember the first Test of the 2005 Ashes, it's the second that gets most of the attention. But it was at Lord's and Australia won it by 239 runs, riding on Glenn McGrath's nine wickets, including his 500th in Tests.

On the morning of the second Test at Edgbaston, McGrath tripped on on a cricket ball while trying to pick up a rugby ball in practice. He was rushed to the hospital and scans revealed a couple of ruptured ligaments and bone damage in his right ankle. He watched England win the famous Test on the final day by two runs. And it was his replacement for the match, Michael Kasprowicz, who fell last.

McGrath came back in the third Test but, in his own words, "was not quite the same bowler". He went wicketless in the first innings and although picked up a fifer in the second, it was mostly because England were trying to score too quickly.

Australia drew the Test but an elbow injury surfaced for McGrath ahead of the fourth Test, which England narrowly won by three wickets. The seamer came back for the fourth, which was his and Shane Warne's final Test in England, but couldn't stop the hosts from taking a draw and winning the series.

It was McGrath's first and only defeat in the Ashes and the first win for England in 18 years.