Nathan Lyon's previous visit to the UAE for Test matches was a horror show. In two Tests in late 2014 he was outright bullied by Pakistan - swept with impunity by Younis Khan in Dubai, thumped out of sight by Misbah-ul-Haq in Abu Dhabi - and finished the series with the following set of numbers: three wickets at 140.66, at a cost of 3.83 runs per over.
While Lyon would go home to be the match-winner of the memorable Adelaide Test against India, the ugliness of his domination by Pakistan would be an early step on his long road to learning how to bowl fruitfully in Asian conditions. The term he coined in concert with his mentor John Davison was "bowl ugly", a conscious abandonment of the topspinning, flight-and-drop method he favoured in Australia to embrace the flatter, tighter, "trap them on the crease and hit the stumps" ways of spinners raised in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.
Four years later, Lyon has returned to the UAE as Australia's undisputed No. 1 spin bowler, and also the most experienced member of a touring team shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner by the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. While the coach Justin Langer, captain Tim Paine and selection chairman Trevor Hohns must find a way to cope without the two men who topped Australia's Test aggregates and averages in 2014, Lyon at least knows what he must do, in concert with Jon Holland and the pacemen.
"I think I'm a better cricketer and a better person to be honest," Lyon said in Dubai. "The amount of cricket we play, you keep learning, and if you're not learning that's where you start getting in a little bit of trouble. But I've definitely learned a lot from past experiences in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, even going back to Dubai here. So I feel like I'm in such a better place, very happy with the way I bowled today, very confident the way they're coming out, and that's in my terms the ugly style.
"For me, this is my term, it's about bowling ugly over here, going away from what I've fallen in love with, the offspinning ball, spinning up the back of the ball with that nice shape. We have to find a way to hit the stumps, and that may be bowling square or round-arm or whatever it may be. It's having those conversations and we've got a brilliant lead-up here before the first Test match. The four-day game here in a few days is going to be a great time for us to experiment, and also to see the way they're going to play us.
"I know four years ago they really tried to attack me last time they were here, so I'm expecting pretty much the same type of batting. They've got different guys rather than Younis and Misbah, but they've still got a very talented batting line-up, some superstars in there already, so it's going to be a great challenge. They're going to bring the game to us, and that's going to be an exciting part."
"It's about bowling ugly over here, going away from what I've fallen in love with, the offspinning ball, spinning up the back of the ball with that nice shape. We have to find a way to hit the stumps, and that may be bowling square or round-arm or whatever it may be." Nathan Lyon
Recognition of the callowness of the squad, save for Lyon, Mitchell Starc and the recalled Peter Siddle, arrived in the first few days of acclimatisation after the Australians landed in Dubai. Lyon and Starc sat together and pondered their roles as bowling leaders, before broadening the commission to help ensure every bowler - whether Holland, Michael Neser or even the youthful Brendan Doggett - is up to the task, whether it is to attack, defend or somewhere in between.
"I know Starcy and I spoke a bit about that sitting in I think it was his room the other night, but it's just about providing good examples and leading the way as we try to do each and every game," Lyon said. "The big thing over here is we're going to have to bowl well in partnerships. The fast bowlers are not just here to make up the overs, they're here to attack and defend in whatever the roles may be at the right times.
"There's not just one certain person who has to stand up here, it's the whole bowling unit. It's going to be a great challenge, and if we can bowl well in partnerships and really put the Pakistan batting lineup under pressure and make sure they're being asked questions of their defence, that's going to be the biggest thing.
"I'm a big fan of Jon Holland. He's done extremely well in the Shield back home over the last few years, he's a very talented bowler, he spins up the back of the ball, which I love. It's my absolute mantra, especially bowling spin, so to see him doing that out here, we're good mates as well, so our communication and bowling out in the middle today was brilliant. Hopefully we can really build that relationship here and really take that out into the middle. That'll be a massive key for us."
While Lyon spoke of being open to playing three spin bowlers, the selectors have rather shown their hand by leaving Ashton Agar at home to play extra domestic limited-overs matches before he joins the Test squad this week. Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and the seam-bowling allrounder Mitchell Marsh will be the extra balance components for the touring team. Additionally, Lyon noted the fact that in 2014, it was not so much the breadth of spin as the flatness of the pitches that helped Pakistan wear the Australians down.
"If it's going to be a Pune [in India in 2017] wicket, why wouldn't you play three spinners," Lyon said. "But going off the last tour here, they were pretty flat, they were hard work, and with the two guys in my eyes vying for batting five or six, Marnus and Travis Head, and they both offer us a spin component as well, I think we're going to have a minimum of three spinners in the side no matter what anyway, and whether they want to go with three frontline spinners is totally up to Cracker [Trevor Hohns], JL and Tim Paine, what type of way they play their cricket.
"Out here it was pretty flat, Abu Dhabi was pretty flat last time and looked to spin later in the game, but if you look four years ago we got beaten on the inside of the bat, so we actually got out when the ball was going straight on, so good luck to the selectors..."