season his form suffered... and for the last three Championship matches Lancashire introduced the 18-year-old Scott and were quite impressed with the youngster's form and promise." Lyon's own batting was disappointing with a top score of only 34 and an average of less than 10 runs per innings, and his 41 dismissals put him 12th on the list of wicket-keepers in the English game for the 1977 season. He did, however, make his one representative appearance in the 1977 season, playing for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the early-season match with the Australian team that often provided clues to Test match selection. Nine of the MCC team did subsequently play for England but Lyon, who took four catches in the match, was one of two – the other was Allan Jones – who didn't. Lyon had a better season all round in 1978, rising to equal seventh in the English county wicket-keepers' statistics with 52 dismissals. Lyon had "found his touch again", said Wisden. His batting also improved and in the match against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford Cricket Ground he put on 161 for the seventh wicket with Simmons, making an unbeaten 74 himself, his highest first-class score to date. Without that innings, however, Lyon's batting average for the season would still have been below 10 runs an innings. The batting was better in 1979 and Lyon's aggregate of 313 runs and average of 22.35 were his best in first-class cricket. Much of that improvement was due to one innings: against Warwickshire at Old Trafford, he was sent in again as a nightwatchman after Lancashire had been forced to follow on and two quick wickets had fallen. As at Weston three years earlier, Lyon not only survived but prospered: he made 123 and, after the deficit had been overhauled, shared in an eighth wicket stand of 158 with Bob Ratcliffe which remains the Lancashire record for that wicket in first-class cricket. Ratcliffe also scored the only century of his career in this innings. The wicket-keeping for Lyon was less satisfactory, though, and he made only 32 dismissals in the season. He lost his place to Scott for the last matches and was not offered a new contract at the end of the season. After first-class cricket Lyon was only 28 when his career with Lancashire came to an end. In an annual published the following year, his name is linked