Lyon was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. Lyon made his debut for Buckinghamshire in the 1977 Minor Counties Championship against Hertfordshire. Lyon played Minor counties cricket for Buckinghamshire from 1977 to 1988, which included 110 Minor Counties Championship matches and 9 MCCA Knockout Trophy matches.
In 1979, he made his List A debut for Buckinghamshire against Suffolk in the Gillette Cup.
He played 5 further List A matches for Buckinghamshire, the last coming against Kent in the 1988 National Westminster Trophy. In his 6 List A matches for the county, he took 5 wickets at a bowling average of 42.80, with best figures of 3/71.
In 1981, he appeared in a single List A match for Middlesex against the touring Sri Lankans. He took 2 wickets in the match, those of Anura Ranasinghe and Yohan Goonasekera.