Nathan Lyon claimed a five-wicket haul in the Wellington Test match to equal a five-for-related world record held by Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralidaran.
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Cameron Green’s belligerent 174 had helped Australia recover from 89-4 and 267-9 to post 383 after Tim Southee opted to bowl in the first Test of the two-match series, at Basin Reserve.
Reduced to 29-5, New Zealand then folded for 179 as Nathan Lyon returned 4-43. Choosing to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on, Australia were bowled out for 164 as Glenn Phillips claimed 5-45. Chasing 369, New Zealand were 126-3 on the fourth morning before collapsing to 196.
Lyon led the rout again, this time with 6-65, the best figures by a spinner on New Zealand soil in seven years. Keshav Maharaj had taken 6-40 at the same venue in 2016/17.
Lyon’s match figures of 10-108 are the seventh-best by any spinner and the fifth-best by a touring spinner in New Zealand. Derek Underwood tops both lists with his 12-97 at Christchurch in 1970/71.
500+ wickets despite bowling finger spin with a Kookaburra on hard Australian pitches for half his career and Nathan Lyon still has doubters.
— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) March 3, 2024
Daniel Vettori (12-149 against Australia, Auckland 1999/00) was the last spinner to have superior match figures to Lyon’s in New Zealand, while Phil Tufnell (11-147 at Christchurch in 1991/92) was the last touring spinner to have done better.
What makes Lyon’s match haul even more remarkable is that he picked 10 out of 40 wickets in the Test match despite 13 cricketers (for the fifth time in history), including seven Australians (eighth time), picking up at least one wicket.
The wicket of Tim Southee in the first innings was the 520th of Lyon’s career. He went past Courtney Walsh’s tally, and with 527 wickets, is now seventh-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history.
Among Australians, only Shane Warne (708) and Glenn McGrath (563) have more wickets than Lyon; among spinners, only Muttiah Muralidaran (800), Warne, and Anil Kumble (619); and among active bowlers, only James Anderson (698).
Lyon’s second-innings five-wicket haul was his first in New Zealand. He now has a five-wicket haul in nine different countries. He became the third to achieve this feat, after Muralidaran and Warne.
Lyon has nine five-fors in Australia; five in India; three in Bangladesh; two in Sri Lanka; and one in each of England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and the West Indies. His best figures in the UAE are 4-78, while he has not played Test cricket in Ireland or Zimbabwe.
