'A proper stat': Lyon's unbroken century sets Test benchmark

Nathan Lyon next week returns to the scene of one of the few low points in his quite extraordinary Test journey with a couple of milestones firmly within grasp, and one of them will set him apart from every other specialist bowler to have played the game.

Lyon's eight wickets in Australia's stunning win at Edgbaston last Tuesday – where his unbeaten 55-run ninth-wicket stand with skipper Pat Cummins carried his team across the line – means he needs five more at Lord's to become the eighth men's player to reach 500 Test wickets.

But in Lyon's eyes, and as confirmed by cricket's statistical records stretching back more than 146 years, the more noteworthy achievement is that the second Test starting next Wednesday will be his 100th consecutive appearance in the Baggy Green Cap he so cherishes.

It will earn him admission to an even more exclusive cohort, with only five others to have managed 100 or more Tests in a row, all of whom spent the bulk of their careers as top-order batters.

That brief honour roll shows England opener Alastair Cook (159 consecutive Tests), Australia pair Allan Border and Mark Waugh (153 and 107 respectively), India's Sunil Gavaskar (106) and New Zealand keeper-turned-opener and now England men's team coach Brendon McCullum (101).

 

What makes Lyon's impending achievement so remarkable is the nearest any specialist bowler, either pace or spin, has come to reaching his record is India's Anil Kumble who managed 60 on the bounce between October 1992 and May 2000.

And while a few bowling allrounders feature prominently in that list – West Indies legend Garfield Sobers (85), India's Kapil Dev and England's Ian Botham (both 65) – the attritional nature of bowling at Test level means practitioners of the gruelling craft rarely attain such longevity.

Prior to Lyon's so-far unbroken streak that began almost a decade ago at Old Trafford during the 2013 Ashes campaign in the UK, Australia's most enduring bowler had been Glenn McGrath who strung together 54 Tests from October 1998 to December 2002.

Image Id: EDA9057559DE4360B7D9A338D0D9FC66 Image Caption: Nathan Lyon was left out for the first two Tests of the 2013 series, but has played every Test since // Getty

And by way of comparison, the current Australia teammates who were also in the line-up at Manchester in 2013 have since added a total of 89 (Steve Smith), 86 (David Warner), 68 (Mitchell Starc) and 55 (Usman Khawaja) Tests to their respective career totals.

"That's something I'm really proud of," Lyon told cricket.com.au in the lead-up to his 100th Test in a row, and 122nd of his 12-year career to date.

"To be able to tick off 100 consecutive Test matches, that's a proper stat in my head.

"That's a lot of Test cricket, a lot of ups and downs.

"No wonder I've got no hair."

Image Id: 94DFEE0659AD459FB9EDDD69CA4D6B98 Image Caption: Lyon and Cummins celebrate their win at Edgbaston // Getty

Lyon is not superstitious per se, but he is a firm believer in the vicissitudes visited by the 'cricket gods' and was therefore wary about foreshadowing his unprecedented achievement until he had safely negotiated Edgbaston, lest he invite a jinx.

But with the celebrations of that famous win done, including a rowdy and rousing rendition of the men's team victory song of which Lyon is choirmaster, he sets his sights on Lord's where his playing career hung in the balance ten years ago.

 

Having arrived as Australia's long-sought spin successor to Shane Warne in 2011 when he claimed the wicket of the world's then-top-ranked Test batter Kumar Sangakkara with his inaugural delivery in international cricket, Lyon found himself suddenly on the outer two years later.

Left-arm orthodox allrounder Ashton Agar was preferred for the opening match of the 2013 series and delivered a similarly memorable debut performance scoring 98 at No.11 in Australia's 14-run loss.

But in his next outing at Lord's, Agar failed to make an impact with his primary skill returning 0-142 from 32 overs and Lyon, who had feared his time as Australia's first-choice spinner might have passed, was reinstated for the next match.

And he's been there for every Test Australia have played since.

 

While that run speaks volumes for the place the 35-year-old has come to occupy in the set-up of an outfit that earlier this month was crowned World Test Champions, it says even more about his phenomenal physical resilience.

Bowling spin is a decidedly less demanding job than that undertaken by fast bowlers, but it is not without the debilitating wear and tear such an unnatural action repeated more than 100 times across a regular day of Test cricket imparts.

The perils for spinners have been highlighted by England's woes of recent weeks, with their first-choice tweaker Jack Leach ruled out for the summer having succumbed to stress fractures in his back and his replacement, Moeen Ali, hobbled during the Edgbaston Test due to the painful blister that developed on his spinning finger.

As former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie understands, after a decade-long international career regularly interrupted by injuries that reduced his output to 71 from a possible 123 Tests, staying on the park is a constant battle for any specialist bowler.

"It's pretty phenomenal, and while it's spin bowling compared to seam bowling it's still taxing on the body," Gillespie told cricket.com.au this week.

"You still have to look after yourself to make sure you're fit and robust enough to be able to handle the workload.

"And Nathan's got a high workload, he's got an unbelievable work ethic and he's constantly working on ways to improve his craft and be better all the time.

"There's things like back complaints, you see (former New Zealand spinner now Australia bowling coach) Daniel Vettori and Jack Leach with back issues because there's lot of twisting and turning, and spinners bowl a lot more overs than seam bowlers.

"Nathan bowls a lot of balls, and maybe there's something in that because your body gets used to the stresses and the workloads."

Even allowing for the resilience Lyon has shown in avoiding stress fractures and soft-tissue injuries, there's always the risk of unforeseen impact or pure rotten luck, the sort that saw Shane Warne miss an entire Australia summer due to a serious finger fracture suffered when he misjudged a skied catch at first slip.

Warne also underwent shoulder surgery to repair damage caused by wear and tear from bowling so many deliveries in international and domestic cricket, more than 40,000 of them in Tests which was significantly more than Lyon's current career tally of 31,344 (5,224 overs).

Yet, while Lyon won't discuss it for fear of inciting those fickle 'cricket gods', his capacity to bowl endless overs, hurl himself around the outfield and get targeted by regular bouts of short-pitched bowling when called upon to bat without getting hurt can't only be explained by good fortune.

 

The most serious injury he's sustained in cricket thus far was a fractured eye socket when he failed to grasp a stinging return catch when bowling for ACT at the national under-19 championships at Adelaide in 2006, although he's had his share of near-misses since then.

Even as recently as this week's first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, Lyon was seen gingerly rubbing his right shoulder after seemingly hyper-extending his arm in making a diving save on the backward point boundary.

And he copped a stinging blow to his bowling hand amid a bouncer barrage from Stuart Broad in last Tuesday's engrossing final session, as England tried everything to break the match-winning union Lyon forged with Cummins.

But in addition to the hours he spent honing his skills prior to that series opener – including a nets session in which Australia's auxiliary batters Matthew Renshaw and Josh Inglis were instructed to slog him as preparation for the expected 'Bazball' onslaught – Lyon also put his body through its paces.

 

Two days out from the Test, as his team's major pre-game training run was winding down, Lyon cut a solitary figure on the Edgbaston outfield as he undertook a series of 100m runs at high intensity, timing each one as he walked back to the starting mark to take off again.

It's why he cites former New South Wales Waratahs rugby representative and Australia women's rugby sevens' head of athletic performance Tom Carter as being as pivotal to his extraordinary on-field staying power as his personal network of family and friends.

"For any athlete to be successful over a long period of time, you've got to have really good people around you, and I'm not talking within the Australian cricket team," Lyon said.

"I feel like my family has been absolutely amazing, with their support and love and care.

"Then there is Tom Carter, who is arguably one of my best mates but also my PT (personal trainer) who I do a lot of work with behind the scenes.

"It's probably five days a week when we're at home, and he's a psychologist as well as a fitness trainer because I'm able to vent to him and there's no judgement.

"We have really good conversations, so it's probably having those really good people around you and I dare say a lot athletes would feel the same, being able to do it for a long period of time."

It was during his previous visit to Lord's four years ago that Warne forecast Lyon might potentially threaten the late spin great's own record of 708 Test wickets, the most by any Australia bowler and second to Sri Lanka off-spinner Muthiah Muralidaran (800) in the game's history.

"If he plays another 85 or 90 Tests, and takes four wickets per game, that's 360 wickets – so he'll get me," Warne told cricket.com.au at the time.

Since then, Lyon has played 33 Tests for 140 wickets – more than any other bowler in that four-year window – at an average of 28.24 runs apiece and 4.24 per match.

Image Id: 3A1EC33B6C934119BA807E41DCE64A70 Image Caption: Shane Warne works with Nathan Lyon on the 2014 tour of South Africa // Getty

At that rate of return, he would need to play another 50 Tests to overtake Warne which – with 36 Tests scheduled for Australia under the current iteration of the ICC's Future Tours Program that stretches until mid-2027 – would require another Ashes sojourn in 2027, aged 39.

Lyon laughs off any suggestion he might threaten Warne's benchmark, but England's evergreen seamer Jimmy Anderson had a similar response years ago when it was suggested he might keep playing past 40 and he'll turn 41 on the penultimate day of the current series.

But barring a freakish occurrence, that will only reinforce Lyon's belief the 'cricket gods' take a dim view of those who tempt fate, he seems certain to reach 500 Test wickets with a very real chance that milestone will arrive in his 100th consecutive outing.

"It's an amazing achievement," Gillespie said.

"And there's going to be some wonderful potential symmetry – 100th Test in a row, five wickets to get 500.

"To get on the honour board at Lord's (with a five-wicket haul) and get his 500th wicket in his 100th consecutive Test … the stars are aligning for the Goat."