Nathan Lyon achieves a unique record in the history of Test cricket

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon has achieved a unique record of dismissing the top four batsmen by leg before wicket in an innings of a Test match. After losing the 1st Test match by 20 runs, Australia went into the 2nd Test match with three spinners- Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar and Steve O’Keefe. Australia opened the bowling with a spinner, which happened for the first time in 70 years.

Lyon scalped seven wickets and earned his third successive Test match five-for. The spinner dismissed opener Tamim Iqbal and the Imrul Kayes, who went for a wild slog but missed the ball completely. He then dismissed the other opener Soumya Sarkar and ended up trapping Mominul Haque too.

Historic day for Test cricket

Test cricket has previously witnessed all top four batsmen getting out to LBW. It has happened six times in the history of Test cricket, but for the first time, a single bowler has scalped each of the four wickets. The first four batsmen getting out to LBW happened for the first time in 1999 at Bridgetown, when Australia picked up the four West Indies batsmen, all by LBW.  The first three wickets were taken by Glenn McGrath, while the fourth one was taken by Jason Gillespie. Lyon now has 263 Test wickets from 69 Test matches, after finishing the 1st innings with figures of 7/94 from 36.2 overs.

Cowan back Lyon to go for 500 Test wickets

Former Australian batsman Ed Cowan has recently praised Lyon and said that he should eye for the 500 wickets landmark. “He’s racing up the all time Test wicket list which is fantastic,” Cowan said. “He’s getting better with age and we see with spinners, they tend to mature a little later and his best is still to come. You wouldn’t put 500 Test wickets past Nathan.” “There are plenty of guys and girls that love knocking the Australian cricket team,” Cowan said. “It’s hard work to be good all around the world in different conditions. It takes time to adapt and I think the great thing about Nathan is that he’s always looking to improve. “He’s shown that particularly in these last couple of Tests in Asia that he’s willing to change his style of bowling to suit the conditions.” he added.