Nathan Lyon 400 - 3 top spells of his Test career
325 days. That’s how long Australia's Nathan Lyon was on 399 Test wickets. Lyon had an indifferent series by his standards against India earlier this year, picking up just nine wickets in four Tests at 55.11.
He bowled nine wicket-less overs in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test and went 25 overs without one in the second innings against England. Joe Root and Dawid Malan negotiated him comfortably for most of their partnership in the second innings.
He finally got one to take the inside edge of Malan for a catch to Labuschagne and let out a roar for his 400th wicket at the Gabba on Saturday.
400 of the very best from Nathan Lyon! 🐐
He becomes the 17th player to achieve the milestone in men's Test cricket, joining Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the only other Australian players #Ashes https://t.co/hbdIjXVr6F
Lyon is the 17th bowler, the second non-Asian spinner and the third Australian to reach 400 Test wickets. He has picked up wickets across the cricket world and has eighteen five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket match hauls.
Here we look at three of his best spells:
22.4-4-50-8 – vs India, Bengaluru 2017
Australia were 1-0 up in the series, courtesy of a Steve O’Keefe special in Pune. Lyon took Australia extremely close to winning their second Test on the trot in Bengaluru with a spectacular performance. His 22-over spell of classic off-spin was too much for the Indian batters, as they stumbled to 189 all out in the first innings.
The pitch was spin-friendly, and there was a rough for Lyon to exploit. His strength is to bowl classical, metronomic off-spin. With a cordon of close-in fielders, Lyon breathed fire as he snuffed out eight Indian batsmen. It was a masterclass that almost won the match for Australia.
20-5-49-6 – vs England, Birmingham 2019
Chasing 398 for victory in the first Test of the 2019 Ashes, England were faced with an uphill task. On a pitch that offered a bit of assistance to spinners, Lyon opened the bowling along with Peter Siddle.
Though his opening three-over spell didn’t yield any wickets, he returned in the 18th over and went on to take six wickets for just 49 runs. Most importantly, he picked up the two big wickets of Joe Root and Ben Stokes. A classic off-spinner performance in the fourth-innings. He also reached the 350-wicket mark with Stokes’ wicket.
34.5-7-67-5 – vs India, Perth 2018
A fast-paced pitch and a rampant Virat Kohli, but neither could stop Lyon from picking up a 5-for. India were in cruise mode as century-maker Kohli and Rahane stitched together a 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket to guide the visitors to 173. Lyon’s persistent line and length reaped rewards as he coaxed an outside edge of Rahane’s bat to kickstart a collapse.
He then had Rishabh Pant holing out at long-on and wrapped up the tail. India were bowled out for 283, handing Australia a 43-run first innings lead and the advantage. It was his seventh five-wicket haul against India, joining Muralitharan as the only two bowlers in Test history to have seven 5-fors against India.