Nathan Lyon willing to be Australia's Test vice-captain

What’s the story?

Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon has been a vital cog to their scheme of things over the past few years. After the ban imposed on David Warner and Steve Smith, Australian cricket is now looking at a different leadership group.

While Tim Paine has been appointed the captain for the Test and ODI side, Nathan Lyon is not adverse to donning the vice-captain's hat if the management looks towards him.

"If they offered it to me, I wouldn't say no," Lyon was as quoted by cricket.com.au. "But it's not something I'm striving for.

The details

Lyon has already said that even without a formal vice-captain, there will be a new leadership group which will emerge from the revamped bunch.

He specifically identifies Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood as the people who should take up extra responsibility with or without any specific designation.

The off-spinner also took the names of Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, and Usman Khawaja and hoped that with these senior players around, there will be a big group who can actually serve as Paine's deputy.

In case you didn’t know…

In the wake of the ball-tampering controversy, Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were handed bans which then saw Tim Paine step in as the new skipper of the Australian squad.

However, there has been no announcement made on his vice-captain and Nathan Lyon certainly emerges as a top candidate.

It has to be mentioned here that back in 2013, Michael Hussey endorsed Lyon's leadership credentials.

What’s next?

Lyon is Australia's most successful off-spinner and with 306 wickets in 78 matches, he can well be handed this additional responsibility ahead of their Test season which begins in the UAE against Pakistan.

However, the selectors have plenty of leadership options on their plate and they could well pluck out any other candidate and allow Lyon to be the lead spinner bereft of any additional pressure.