Humble Lyon is uncomfortable among greats
AUSTRALIAN coach Justin Langer has implored his players to be humble and Nathan Lyon is doing that, despite continuing to elevate his standing towards legendary status.
It took a tap on the shoulder and a handshake from a team official to inform the Aussie off-spinner he had moved to equal third on his country’s alltime wicket-taking list when he had Jonny Bairstow caught on the boundary to wrap up England’s innings at Lord’s yesterday.
Lyon now has 355 Test wickets, the same as the great Dennis Lillee. Only Shane Warne (708) and Glenn McGrath (563) have more than the former groundskeeper, who said his best was yet to come.
The more marvellous thing about Lyon’s achievement is that his 355 Test wickets are nearly 70 per cent of his career tally of 522 in first-class cricket. He’s a better bowler at the top.
But Lyon, 31, said he didn’t even know what he’d done, because it didn’t matter with a Test match to be won. “I’ve always said I am not about personal milestones or personal achievements, it’s about winning Test matches and Test series for Australia,” he said.
“I feel like I can still get better, I still feel like I’m learning about bowling.”
Bowling Australia to victory in the first Test at Edgbaston only enhanced the growing legend of a man his teammates call the “GOAT”. It’s a moniker Lyon now carries worldwide, regarded by plenty as the pre-eminent spinner in cricket, better even than those subcontinental wizards who honed their craft on pitches made to turn.
“I really struggle to see myself up with the likes of Warne, McGrath, Lillee, it doesn’t sit well with me,” he said.