It had been 288 days since Australia won a Test match – the 118-run defeat of South Africa at Durban, with Steve Smith at the helm.
Since then, with Smith still skipper, Australia lost by six wickets and 322 at Port Elizabeth, and then there was Cape Town.
Tim Paine took over the captaincy when Smith was suspended for 12 months, copping a 492 drubbing first up at Johannesburg. This was followed by an honourable draw against Pakistan in Dubai, before a 373-run hammering by Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, and a 31-run loss to India at Adelaide.
Throughout that period of pain, humiliation, and dropping to fifth in the ICC rankings, there was one rock – Nathan Lyon.
Others had odd moments of success with bat and ball, but Lyon was the go-to man – Test after Test after Test.
When Paine won the toss in Perth, Lyon had bowled 393.3 overs, 83 maidens and had captured 40 wickets for 1231 at 30.77 apiece in seven Tests.
Only the most devoted cricket tragics gave Australia the ghost of a chance as the fifth-ranked nation, with no Smith or David Warner – ranked three and six in the world batting rankings respectively – to take a Test off the top-ranked Indians at full strength.
Yet, largely thanks to Lyon, India has lost 40 wickets for 980 in the first two Tests, while the brittle Australian batting order has edged ahead with 40 wickets for 1095.
Nathan Lyon bowls (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
During the series, Lyon has dismissed the undisputed world number one batsman, Virat Kohli, for the seventh time – twice more than England’s legendary opening bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, with five each.
Lyon has only played against Kohli 31 times, while Anderson and Broad have faced off 35 times apiece.
So Lyon has come a long way since his first-class debut for South Australia, against the West at the WACA in 2011, where he grabbed 4-81 off 26 and 2-119 off 40.
Playing against him was Marcus Harris – little did they know they would be Australian teammates seven years later.
In Perth, Lyon passed through the 500 first-class wicket barrier in 141 games to average 34.18.
At 31, he won’t get near Shane Warne’s 1319 wickets at 26.11 from 301 games, nor Richie Benaud’s 945 at 24.73 from 259, or Dennis Lillee’s 882 at 23.46 from 198.
But Craig McDermott, Jeff Thomson, and Alan Davidson are in Lyon’s crosshairs.
McDermott has captured 677 wickets at 28.10 from 174, Thomson 675 at 25.46 from 187, and Davidson 672 at 20.90 from 193.
It would be fairer to compare Lyon with the most successful Australian offies.
Ashley Mallett is the benchmark, with 693 wickets at 26.27 from 183, ahead of Ian Johnson’s 619 at 23.30 from 189.
Then it’s Lyon, ahead of Tim May’s 431 at 35.81 from 141, Bruce Yardley’s 344 at 28.19 from 105, and Tom Veivers’ 191 at 38.70 from 106.
But Lyon’s next target is to win this series and get his 334 Test wickets – closer to Dennis Lillee’s 355, to become Australia’s third highest wicket-taker.
Whatever happens, Nathan Lyon is a priceless asset through good and bad times.
liquorbox_
Roar Rookie
"Only the most devoted cricket tragics gave Australia the ghost of a chance as the fifth-ranked nation, with no Smith or David Warner – ranked three and six in the world batting rankings respectively – to take a Test off the top-ranked Indians at full strength." well I must be a cricket tragic. A cricket tragic is aware that the reason that test match cricket is the only real version of the game is that it is the only version where you have to prove you are better than the other team. To win a test match you have to get 20 wickets (declarations excepted). So the basics are that to win a test match you need 20 wickets....hence the need for bowlers, which we have in high quality. Why would you not think we could win a test?
pakistanstar
Roar Rookie
He's the main reason we don't need a 5th bowling option. His ability to hold up an end for most of a day's play is just as valuable as the wickets he takes.
Jack
Guest
Lyon is a world class bowler no doubt. I love watching him bowl. His aconomy also means the opposition has to attack the fast bowlers as well. On another matter - I read that, other than the last day, the bulk of wickets fell in the afternoon and evening session. High tide is around 7:00 pm this time of year. Maybe the pitch gets move lively because it got a wet bum.
Daniel Mcauliffe
Guest
Australia will win the series against India after squaring it at 1-1 in Perth
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
India might be top ranked, but they're not a full-strength at the moment. That not withstanding, Lyon's performance has been wonderful. He's steadily improved throughout his career and over the past couple of years or so has proven himself across all pitch conditions.
JohnB
Roar Rookie
First class stats comparisons need to take into account that modern players play a lot more of their FC games as tests - for Lyon, it is 82 out of 141 (for 334 of his 501 wickets). Ashley Mallett played 38 tests in his 183 FC games (for 132 of his 693 wickets) and Ian Johnson 45 tests in 189 FC games total (109 wickets out of 689). While the longer length of tests compared to other FC games gives more opportunity to bowl, you're typically playing against better batsmen and have better bowlers around you competing for the available wickets. If you're good enough you can take more wickets per game at test level than at FC level as Lyon has done, but Mallett and Johnson couldn't. At Test level Lyon will always be measured against Hugh Trumble's 141 wickets from 32 tests (he took a handy 929 from 231 FC games total by the way). With Lyon now at over 4 wickets per test, not as silly a comparison as it once was.
Paul D
Roar Guru
First class cricket stats David? Hope you blew the cobwebs off those numbers before you cited them. I doubt anyone even remembers Wilfred Rhodes took 4204 first class wickets anymore.