Nathan Lyon has played just seven of his 49 Tests without a left-arm fast bowler in the same side, but is confident a lack of footmarks will not prevent him from bowling Australia to victory against the West Indies this summer. 
The retirement of Mitchell Johnson and injury to Mitchell Starc means Australia will field an entire right-arm attack for the first time in more than two years as Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile try to squeeze into three spots for the Hobart Test, which starts next Thursday.  
The last time Lyon had no left-armers to complement him was during the fourth Test of the 2013 Ashes series when Siddle was joined by Ryan Harris and Jackson Bird. 
Australia were defeated by 74 runs in that Test and interestingly - including that match - the last three games Lyon has played in which Australia have been bereft of a left-arm option, they have failed to come away with victory. 
 Lyon was victorious, however, in the first four Tests he played without a left-arm bowler - against India in 2011-12 and then for one match against the West Indies. 
Unlike Shane Warne, who received assistance from right-arm bowlers because they would bowl over the wicket and his deliveries turned from leg to off, Lyon has relied on left-armers to create footmarks and rough that he can use to his advantage in the latter stages of a Test. 
Lyon offered a handful of light-hearted suggestions as to how teammates could help create footmarks in the absence of Johnson and Starc. 
"Josh needs to come around the wicket with long spikes," said Lyon tongue-in-cheek. "Hopefully we'll have to lob the balls in just in front of the stumps so Pete [Nevill] has to run over the wicket more. We're going to have to make sure we run over the wicket a little bit more don't we? I'm happy to work with whatever we have to - there's going to be no left-armers but we'll find a way." 
Whatever fast bowling cartel Lyon has to work with, he is confident they can get the job down even though he believes they have not performed at their best this summer.
"I think we improved over the summer," Lyon said. "I don't think we've been up to our best over the last three Tests, but I think that's one area as bowlers we're talking about and we're concentrating on bowling in partnerships. At the end of the day, you take 20 wickets, you win a Test match." 
Asked what he made of the tour match between the West Indies and a Cricket Australia XI, Lyon admitted he did not know the score. Nonetheless, Australia's most successful off-spinner knows what is ahead of him.  
"I'll do my study on those guys in the next couple of days," Lyon said. "There's no reason why you don't get up [for a Test match]. We're definitely not taking the West Indies lightly, they're a very talented young bunch of cricketers and we've got to be on our game." 
In the aftermath of the Adelaide pink-ball Test, Lyon has warmed to the concept, but slammed the idea of four-day Tests, saying there was nothing  better than winning on a fifth day.  
"I'm not a fan of the four-day Test matches," Lyon said. "As a team, there's no better feeling than winning a Test match in the last hour of the last day when you've been up against the wall. We experienced it last year in Adelaide and to experience that again would be unbelievable."