Yesterday at the MCG Nathan Lyon became the third-fastest Australian to capture 100 Test wickets.
That staggering stat proves the 26-year-old offie is no longer flying under the radar, but among the first-choice selections.
Mitchell Johnston is the fastest in a year and 250 days, from Shane Warne’s two years and 26 days, and Lyon’s two years and 117 days.
The slowest is Hugh Trumble’s 12 years and 13 days, but there weren’t too many Tests around in his time between July 1890 and July 1902.
The Australian 100-wicket scoreboard
17 Tests – Charlie Turner, Clarrie Grimmett.
20 – Bill O’Reilly.
21 – Stuart MacGill.
22 – Bill Johnston, Dennis Lillee, and Jeff Thomson.
23 – Graham McKenzie, Ashley Mallett, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Mitchell Johnston.
24- Max Walker.
25 – Geoff Lawson, and Bruce Reid,
26 – Hugh Trumble, Ray Lindwall, and Terry Alderman,
27 – Monty Noble, Craig McDermott, Alan Connolly, and Merv Hughes.
28 – Rodney Hogg.
29 – Lyon’s in class company with Alan Davidson, and Peter Siddle.
Even in this series, Lyon is right up there among the wickets.
Johnson leads the way with a tearaway 31 wickets at 14.32.
Lyon – 16 wickets at 26.93.
Ryan Harris – 14 at 26.
Siddle – 13 at 26.07.
Shane Watson – four at 29.25.
And Steve Smith – just the one wicket costing 58.
Lyon’s 16 scalps include England skipper Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes twice each, with Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar, Tim Bresnan, and the dangerous Stuart Broad once each.
For the icing on the cake, Lyon is no ‘bunny’ at 11 in the order.
His unbeaten 18 yesterday in a last wicket stand of 40 with the in-form Brad Haddin (65), meant the Australian were chasing 231 for victory today, rather than the psychologically more demanding 271.
Add a safe pair of hands, and Lyon is a very accomplished cricketer, and should be treated as such, rather on sufferance because the selectors have picked him
Fittingly, there were 63,864 on hand at the MCG yesterday to personally salute his achievement.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I take my hat off to Nathan Lyon, whom I regarded as something of a Ray Bright, and totally innocuous. I was wrong. The stats don't lie -- he has done a great job, and as a batsman, has still not been dismissed in this series.
Jake
Guest
Did you read the whole article, Ret? Sounds like you just read the first paragraph and skipped the rest. Perhaps reading the whole article next time before making silly comments, hey?
twodogs
Guest
Nordy, the selectors at the time were delusion and had visions of granduer. Lyon does not 'look' like a traditional cricketer, yet he really fits and compliments this team and, silenced the doubters. I noticed in the wrap up on telly today some of the faces mulling around with the team - the hard nosed ex test players such as boof, billy etc. I think after the sham which cricket Australia had created after the Argus rubbish has well and truly been buried.
deccas
Guest
What does that even mean johnno?
Ret
Guest
Stating that Lyon is the "third fastest Australian to claim 100 test wickets" is totally meaningless, due to the fact that this stat disregards the number of tests played. Thank you for supplying the relevant list. Lyon taking 29 tests to achieve what Grimmett managed in 17 is a fair reflection of those two players' respective talents.
Hossey
Roar Guru
Good on him. He's been improving since day one, which is a lot more than can be said of a lot of Aussie cricketers over the past few years.
Johnno
Guest
David dare I say it, but does this mean now Nathan Lyon has the potential to be better than Shane Warne. And has Nathan Lyon taken over taken Stuart Macgill as a better spinner.
NORDBURG
Guest
Whilst i can not fathom why the selectors have dumped him so many times for sub par spinners,Maxwell especially,it may of been the making of him because everytime he has come back he seems to be bowling better and with subtle differences.I hope brain dead Invers and co dont take any credit for Lyon's great effort -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Dr NRL
Guest
Can only imagine how much quicker it would've been if Haddin was keeping to him throughout, and had the weird experiment with Matthew Wade not occurred. He dropped several catches, missed more stumpings, and denied Lyon not only a wicket each time, but a crack at a new batsman. It almost cost Lyon his Test career because, at the end of the day, numbers are numbers. Good on you Nathan Lyon!