Nathan Ryan said he was heartbroken but wanted to give himself time to accept everything.
Ten months ago, the Australian off-spinner entered Ashes folklore dragging himself down the steps of the Lord's Pavilion, shredding his calf and ending his series.
At that moment, the home crowd erupted in bone-chilling applause as a sign of respect for one of England's toughest opponents.
“My wife, her parents and family friends were all in tears in the crowd,” Lyon told BBC Sport. “I probably didn't realize the level of respect that was shown there.
- author, Stefan Shemilt
- role, cricket chief writer
“It's nice to be able to look back and think. I always thought the majority of England hated me.”
Two days earlier, Lyon had fallen to the grass with a non-injurious injury while retrieving the ball deep. Although he needed help from his wife Emma to shower and change his clothes, he never thought he would not be at bat in the bottom of Australia's second inning.
“I was always batting,” he says. “People have different jobs and they go to work when they're sick or unwell. There was never a decision not to bat. It was always, 'No matter how bad I am, I'm going to go.' ”
When Lyon returned home, Australia were 2-0 up and on the verge of winning England's first Ashes series since 2001.
The 36-year-old watched the game all night and saw his team fall to 2-2. They probably just avoided a 3-2 defeat due to the rain in Manchester.
While the impact of Australia losing the skills of their greatest ever fingerspinner was obvious, less visible but equally important was the loss of Lyon's combative and competitive personality.
“If I had been here, I believe we would have beaten Australia 4-0,” he says, almost proving the point.
Ryan sits in his second home at Old Trafford and is now a county cricketer for Lancashire. Not quite the fox in the British cricket henhouse, but definitely a double agent.
For Lyon, his time with the Red Rose is part of a plan to include him on the Ashes tour in 2027, when he will be 39 years old. In return, the county's cricketers will be able to learn from playing and playing against the best players in the world.
There was particular interest in Lyon's deal with Lancs after left-arm spinner Tom Hartley made a breakthrough for England during the tour to India. The Australians come here and bowl us and take our jobs.
But keeping Hartley in check is not Ryan's ambition.
“I'm not here to replace Tom,” Ryan says. “I came here to bowl in partnership with Tom.
“Hopefully I can pass on a little bit of knowledge here and there, but I’m also learning from him.”
There's a lot to unpack about Lyon. As a cricketer, he is an old-school fingerspinner whose orthodox methods could be incorporated into any era of the game. His 530 wickets puts him seventh on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers and will move him further up the rankings if he makes it to the 2027 Ashes.
Ryan is a legendary former Australian groundsman who became “lifelong companions” with Joe Root after their time together at Adelaide club cricket.
Known as a nervous player, Lyon is always confident in front of the microphone. He says he is “humble” as a result of his upbringing in rural New South Wales and the values instilled in him by his parents.
However, he also famously said before the 2017-18 Ashes that he wanted to “bring an end to the career” of England players, and formed a team with pacers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. He believes that the bowling quartet is “the best in the world.”
With David Warner gone, Lyon is most likely to become Australia's attack dog in the media, with him launching a foul-mouthed attack on England's divisive “buzz ball” approach in November.
Lyon still dismisses claims from England's camp that they don't like the terminology that defined the tactical construction of the Brendon McCullum era.
“I don't mind hearing about it. This is their type of cricket. I feel like we've been playing entertaining cricket for years now, to justify it with a name. There's no need to call.”
“I really watched David Warner score centuries in sessions before the buzz ball was invented.
“It's up to them to keep doing it now. Literally, they have to go with one over and six runs, otherwise they can't play buzz ball. If we're going to talk about it, we've got to do it.”
There was a time when Australian cricketers would travel to England every four years and hand over the Ashes without breaking a sweat.
Ryan joins Warner, Cummins, Starc, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Shane Watson as part of a generation of highly successful Australians who have never won a full British title.
For Lyon, the 2023 calf injury likely comes after 2019, when Jack Leach's fumble run out cost the team a series win.
“I was part of two teams that kept Ash here, let's not forget that,” he points out. “But yeah, the absolute dream for me is to win the Test series here and in India.”
In Australia it's a different story. Lyon have beaten England 13-0 in the three series, but England will fall to the bottom of the table in what could be the final game of Ben Stokes and McCullum's regime at the end of 2025.
“I never really thought about the Ashes series,” says Lyon. “We have India at home this year and it is one of the biggest series you can be a part of.
“Again, 18 months doesn't seem that far away. It's going to be special.”
The last time I saw him, he was a wounded animal. Next time England will be home to Lyon.