'Old-style offie' Lyon wins Warne's praise

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who enjoyed a sensational Galle Test debut for Australia in Sri Lanka, has been praised and congratulated by former leg-spinner Shane Warne for sticking to basics and remaining an old style offie.

Warne tweeted to captain Michael Clarke "Like the look of N Lyon - please pass on my congrats to him - he's a chance - old-fashioned style offie - similar to Swann!!"

While Clarke expected the pitch for the second Test, which begins in Kandy today, would turn more as the match progresses, it would offer nothing like the assistance of the dust bowl in Galle, where Australia won the first Test by 125 runs.

"My only concern is the external expectation and the expectation within for Nathan, that he continues to try to get better every single day," Clarke said of Lyon, who claimed 5-34 in the first innings at Galle.

He said Lyon should keep working on his trade and that focusing too much on results could be a trap.

"For me it's about keep doing his thing, keep working hard, keep trying to improve what he has. Don't try and be anyone else. He's obviously got a lot of talent there, but he's not Shane Warne, he's not Stuart MacGill, he's not Peter Taylor, he's Nathan Lyon," said Clarke.