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Australia's star spinner Nathan Lyon has signed a three-year deal with Melbourne Renegades to play in the Big Bash League until the 2025-26 season. The off-spinner's new joining with the Melbourne-based franchise has put up an end to his long-term stint with three-time title lifters Sydney Sixers.

Lyon isn't one to be known more for his contributions in the shortest format and hasn't even featured for the Aussies in T20 cricket for almost five years.

The 35-year-old is all set to team up with fellow Aussie teammate Adam Zampa who is regarded as the leading spinner at the moment for the national team in the white-ball formats.

 

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The leg-spinner himself recently became part of Renegades having played for Melbourne Stars before that.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of the Melbourne Renegades," Lyon said. "(Marvel Stadium's) a place where I enjoy bowling, it tends to spin a little bit. I'm looking forward to hopefully joining up with 'Zamps' in a really good partnership and putting a show on for the Renegades fans.

"I've got some really good friends who are part of the Melbourne Renegades, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to come down. There's a good group of senior players there who I've played a lot of cricket with internationally and also domestically, then you look at the younger guys throughout the roster - it's a pretty powerful squad in my eyes. I think we need to set the benchmark high, shoot for the finals and make sure we go and try to lift the trophy."

Lyon started his BBL career with Adelaide Strikers but didn't manage to feature in the league regularly due to his presence in the national team as he has played just 38 games in the league so far, picking up 44 wickets at an economy rate of 7.18.

Lyon is currently out of action as he is recovering from the calf injury he sustained during the recently concluded Ashes series in England.

He picked up the injury in the second Test at Lord's and was ruled out of the rest of the three Tests, giving his team a concern over team combination as England managed to draw the series 2-2 by outplaying the Pat Cummins' side in the last three matches.

He is expected to recover in time and feature in Australia's Test summer that begins on December 14 against Pakistan. Renegades begin their campaign on December 8. The final Test of the summer against West Indies is scheduled to get underway the day after the BBL final. If Lyon does play all five Tests scheduled at home this summer, he will miss the majority of the games this season.

 

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"Over the last couple of years, we've had a clear plan around transforming our playing list to give our club the best opportunity to contend for another BBL championship," Melbourne Renegades General Manager, James Rosengarten, said. "Being able to add two world-class spinners in Nathan and Adam to our squad for the next couple of years is a significant step in that process, one which we're confident will help to set us up for success over the coming seasons."