Lyon had been stuck on 562 wickets for five months having missed two of Australia’s last three Tests, owing to two of them being pink-ball day-night matches when the selectors opted for all-pace attacks. He had also only bowled two overs in the first Test of this series in Perth. In six balls in Adelaide, he struck twice.
The first was a gift when Ollie Pope spooned a catch to midwicket to draw Lyon level with McGrath. His second was a peach: drifting into off from around the wicket on a good length, Ben Duckett playing forward in defence and the ball spinning past the edge and hit the top of off. It was a classic offspinner’s dismissal of a left-hander.
At that point Lyon had 564 Test wickets. Warne finished with 708 from his 145 matches. Lyon has previously spoken about wanting to play on until at least the 2027 Ashes in England, and Australia have a bumper period of Test cricket from August next year onwards.
Earlier in the week Lyon was added to Adelaide Oval’s Avenue of Honour for his 12 wickets against India at the ground in 2014.
