On Day 2 of the third Ashes Test at Adelaide, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon created a historic event that will go down in Australian cricket history. As he thought back on surpassing one of his childhood heroes, Lyon characterised the off-spinner’s achievement as “humbling”: he became Australia’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, surpassing renowned pacer Glenn McGrath.
At the Adelaide Oval, the milestone was reached during England’s opening innings. After being benched for the last Test, Lyon returned to the starting lineup and performed admirably right away. To tie McGrath and then pass him, the 38-year-old hit twice in his opening over of the day, first taking out Ollie Pope for three and then dismissing the highly effective Ben Duckett.
Lyon surpassed McGrath’s record of 562 wickets in 124 Test matches at an average of 30.09 with top statistics of 8/50 and 26 four-wicket hauls, 24 five-wicket hauls, and five 10-wicket matches with those wickets, bringing their total to 564 Test scalps from 141 matches. He is only surpassed on Australia’s all-time Test list by the late Shane Warne, who took 708 wickets.
Lyon’s accomplishment also moved him up to sixth place among international cricket’s top wicket-takers.
After the Day’s play, Lyon talked candidly about the feelings that were present at the time.
“To be honest, it’s pretty humbling to be able to take over or equal Glenn McGrath; these guys were my childhood heroes. I’ll look back on it at the end of my career. I grew up idolising Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.” At the post-day press conference, Lyon stated, “Or even tonight, and just relax and try to have a moment because it is a very special moment for me.”
Notably, he trails Stuart Broad’s 604 and Anil Kumble’s 619 wickets on the all-time list, but Muttiah Muralitharan, Warne, and James Anderson’s all-time highs continue to be significant benchmarks.
“Without my teammates and the players on the opposite end, I couldn’t have accomplished that. Thus, it’s both a very humble and a very proud occasion,” Lyon continued.
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