Struggling Test spinner Nathan Lyon is suffering information overload and must clear his mind before confronting South Africa, his South Australian captain Johan Botha says.
Lyon has taken only six wickets in three Sheffield Shield games this season, including four in the Redbacks' fixture against Queensland which ended in a draw on Friday.
The Bulls, set 222 to win from 47 overs at Adelaide Oval, abandoned their run chase and finished 6 for 129 after earlier banking first innings points.
South African Botha expects his countrymen to target Lyon in the three-Test series starting in Brisbane on November 9.
But Botha backed his fellow offspinner Lyon, whose six Shield victims have come at a cost of 398 runs, to find his best form in time for the Test series.
"There is a lot being spoken about him," Botha said.
"He is thinking about a lot of things.
"Hopefully he can just clear it up and have his mind settled before the first Test.
"As a spinner, you obviously have just got a bit of spin - there are no bouncers, there are no yorkers - so you just want to do that over and over.
"And if you start thinking too much you probably don't land them where you want to all the time."
Lyon took 2 for 42 from 17 overs on Friday in Queensland's second innings as the Redbacks briefly got a sniff of victory.
The Bulls lost 4 for 41 to slip to 5 for 101 before calling off their run chase and batting out the match.
The draw extended SA's winless streak in the Shield to 19 games, dating back to November 2010, but Botha was encouraged by his side challenging the reigning Shield champions.
"We were in the game for the whole game and that was great to see," he said.
"We were close in the end ... all in all for us, it was a really good four days."
Queensland could lose captain James Hopes for their Shield game against New South Wales starting next Friday.
Hopes said he popped a cyst on his right knee while bowling on Thursday.
"It's not long-term, which is good," said Hopes.
"I might be able to push it for next Friday, we'll just see how it comes up."
AAP
Tags: cricket, sport, australia, sa First posted October 26, 2012 22:15:47
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