Nathan Lyon is among the greatest spinners to have ever come out of Australia, second only to the great Shane Warne. Today, the off-spinner received yet another honour to demonstrate this. At the Galle International Stadium, Australia is playing Sri Lanka in the second Test match. Lyon started the innings with 549 Test wickets overall. His 550th victim was Dinesh Chandimal, who was caught by Beau Webster at mid-off after the bowler flung up a delivery to a charging Chandimal.
Coincidentally, Nathan Lyon played his first Test match in 2011 at Galle Stadium against Sri Lanka.
He joined Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, two other Australian cricket legends, in reaching the 550-wicket mark in his 136th game. McGrath took 563 wickets in his career, while Warne finished with 708 wickets.
The 37-year-old needs just 11 more wickets to pass McGrath and take the second-most Australian wickets in the format. At an average of 21.64, the former Australian bowler has taken 563 wickets in 124 games.
The right-arm spinner then went on to dismiss Kamindu Mendis and Angelo Mathews, putting Australia in a strong position to control the Test. Australia had a 157-run advantage in the first innings, and Sri Lanka had only 54 runs left at the end of Day 3 at 211/8.
Bowlers with Most Test Wickets
| Player | Country | Matches | Wickets | Bowling Average | 5WI | 10WM | |
| 1 | M Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 133 | 800 | 22.72 | 67 | 22 |
| 2 | Shane Warne | Australia | 145 | 708 | 25.41 | 37 | 10 |
| 3 | James Anderson | England | 188 | 704 | 26.45 | 32 | 3 |
| 4 | Anil Kumble | India | 132 | 619 | 29.65 | 35 | 8 |
| 5 | Stuart Broad | England | 167 | 604 | 27.68 | 20 | 3 |
| 6 | Glenn McGrath | Australia | 124 | 563 | 21.64 | 29 | 3 |
| 7 | Nathan Lyon | Australia | 136* | 552 | 30.24 | 24 | 5 |
| 8 | Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 106 | 537 | 24.00 | 37 | 8 |
| 9 | Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 132 | 519 | 24.44 | 22 | 3 |
| 10 | Dale Steyn | South Africa | 93 | 439 | 22.95 | 26 | 5 |
*Last updated: February 08, 2025
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