December 16 will be a special homecoming of sorts for one man in the baggy green, as the hosts take on England in the second Test of the ongoing Ashes series.
A curator, Nathan Lyon’s bowling talent was, reportedly, spotted by the Redbacks' Big Bash coach Darren Berry at the Adelaide Oval, where the former was working as ground staff. Within seven months of his first-class debut, Lyon made it to the Australian Test team, in July 2011.
A little over a decade later, the off-spinner is in august company. He became only the third Aussie to take 400 Test wickets or more, joining legends Shane Warne (708) and Glenn McGrath (563) in the elite club, in the first Test of the ongoing Ashes series, in Brisbane. The hosts thrashed England by nine wickets today, with more than a day to spare, with Lyon taking four wickets in the second innings.
He's only the second spinner from outside of Asia - the other being Warne - to reach 400 wickets, and is the 17th bowler overall across more than 140 years to reach the milestone. The all-time list is topped by Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 800 between 1992 and 2010.
The offie made his Test debut against Sri Lanka and struck with his very first ball – his victim being Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara. He went on to take five more wickets in the match to cap off a memorable debut.
2013 was a tough year for Lyon, as he lost his place in the national side twice. First, during the series against India and then during the Ashes tour of England. But he made a strong comeback in the third Test onward, cementing his place in the playing XI. He went on to win his first Man of the Match award in 2014-15, against India at, where else, Adelaide Oval.
Lyon, now with 403 wickets from 101 Tests, has mostly been a regular in the Australian lineup for a decade.
How a bit of banter helped Lyon get his 400th Test wicket
A bit of banter from the new captain was all Nathan Lyon needed to end his 11-month wait to move from 399 Test wickets and become just the third Australian to hit the 400 milestone.
Lyon didn't get a wicket in the first innings when England were out for 147 on Day 1 of the Ashes series, and bowled 24 overs and conceded 69 runs without taking a wicket on Day 3 as the tourists rallied to reach 220-2 at stumps, cutting Australia's lead to 58.
The 34-year-old offspinner admitted it was playing on his mind. Australia hadn't played a Test match since January, and he had taken only nine wickets in that losing four-Test series against India.
Lyon isn't usually one to acknowledge milestones, he said, but teammates were joking with him about the length of time between wickets and what he planned to do to celebrate. So, he couldn't ignore it.
Pace bowler Pat Cummins, in his first Test as Australia captain since replacing Tim Paine, took Lyon aside after play on Friday to joke about it.
“I said last night, ‘you are never going to get your 400!'" Cummins said.
“Nice for him to get that this morning. He bowled really well yesterday without luck.” Lyon laughed, let off steam and, in just the fourth over on Saturday morning, dismissed Dawid Malan to end England's 162-run third-wicket partnership and his personal wait since January 19 to progress his career tally from 399 to 400 Test wickets.
“There's been a lot of banter going on so it was probably on my mind more because of that," Lyon said. “It's been some hard toil to get it to get it, but it's very, very rewarding.”
(With PTI inputs)