The man who made a mess of Nathan Lyon's bowling figures in Chelmsford believes it would be wrong to read too much into the offspinner's output in the tour game.
Lyon finished with the unflattering match figures of 1-200 from 34.4 overs in his only hit out in local conditions before the Ashes starts in Cardiff on Wednesday.
The low point came in the first innings when Ryan ten Doeschate smashed a ball over Lyon's head, past the grandstand and into the River Can.
The Dutchman, who averages 67 with the bat from 33 ODIs, has achieved the feat on the small ground previously.
And ten Doeschate has seen plenty of tweakers come unstuck on pitches far more lively than the "flat deck" produced by Essex for the tour game.
"It wasn't a great wicket to bowl spin on," he told AAP on Saturday.
"In both innings, the spinners went at quite a click - it's obviously very small here in Chelmsford.
"But he bowled very well today. I'm sure he'll take a lot of confidence out of that and he'll be ready for the first Test."
The hard-hitting allrounder was on the books of the Adelaide Strikers last summer, when he was dismissed by Lyon in the BBL semi-final at Adelaide Oval.
The 35-year-old pointed to the fact England will have potentially seven left-handers in their XI this week as another reason for Lyon not to feel too glum.
"We didn't have any left-handers on show in this game," he said.
"The Test side will be different and the fifth-day Test wickets will be a bit more helpful."
Lyon's opening five overs in the tour game went for 54 runs.
He created one chance on day two when Ravi Bopara danced down the wicket and missed the ball, but Essex continued to attack at almost every opportunity.
"It's generally the way guys go about over here ... it was just a really docile wicket early on," ten Doeschate said.
"It didn't really turn or bounce, so you could walk down the wicket quite confidently and hit through the line.
"The wicket got a little bit drier later and he certainly got that bounce he's known for."
Michael Clarke, speaking after day three, wasn't worried about the man who recently became Australia's most prolific offspinner.
"That's the way the wicket is more than anything else, there wasn't much spin in it," Clarke said.
"Lyno's going really well."
Share
