The Ashes third Test day two recap: He’s past McGrath – could Nathan Lyon actually reel in Warne’s 708-wicket record next?

Almost six months ago to the day, half a world away in balmy Barbados, it was put to Nathan Lyon that he needed roughly 15 wickets to move past Glenn McGrath on the list of the most prolific wicket takers in Australian Test history.

“It’s 10,” Lyon deadpanned.

In contrast to the standard insistence in professional sport that player X doesn’t play to accomplish milestone Y, Lyon is always refreshingly frank when it comes to talking about his place in the game.

Earlier this week, he could appreciate the fairytale unfolding before him after being recalled on the Adelaide Oval wicket he once diligently prepared. Back in the side after being omitted from two of Australia’s past three Tests – and bowling only two overs in the game he did play – it was as if Lyon had never left.

Three balls into his first over, Ollie Pope obliged with a lazy clip to mid-wicket that could well cost him his place at No.3. Having started Australia’s tour of the West Indies on 553 wickets, Pope’s scalp brought Lyon level with McGrath on 563 Test wickets.

Two balls later, he was past the great quick – who threatened to launch a chair in the ABC commentary box in mock outrage – with Ben Duckett beaten by a lovely, looping ball that pitched and pivoted past his outside edge into off-stump.

Now Lyon sits in outright second place on the list of all-time Australian wicket-takers, behind only Shane Warne and his 708 Test scalps.

His limited involvement of late has prompted concern over exactly what the future holds for both Lyon and spin-bowling more broadly in Australia, given the accelerating nature of Test cricket and the trend toward pace-friendly pitches in this country.

But as unlikely as it might seem, another 144 wickets is not an impossibility. Lyon, 38 last month, was aware enough in Barbados.

“I still pinch myself, seeing my name with those guys,” he said of the McGrath mark looming large. “I thoroughly enjoy playing cricket, doing my role for this team, and it’s nice to have taken a few wickets along the way.”

And what about Warne’s 708?

“I don’t know. It depends how many raggers we play on in the coming years.”

Lyon has targeted playing on until the 2027 Ashes in England, and has grown well practiced in rebuffing the increasingly regular questions of retirement with his advancing years.

Australia will play 20 Tests between August next year and that Ashes tour, 21 if they qualify for the World Test Championship final.

Lyon’s 564 wickets have come at a very neat four per Test across his career, so no one is suggesting he’ll crank that up to seven each outing to catch Warne on English soil.

But Lyon can at least hope to fare better at the selection table provided he is fit and able.

Australia are off to South Africa next October – hardly a happy hunting ground for Lyon, with 28 wickets from nine Tests there previously.

Instead, his superb records against 2026 tourists Bangladesh (22 wickets at 14) and New Zealand (63 wickets at 18) holds far more promise for next winter’s two Tests (venues to be confirmed) and the summer’s four Tests against the Kiwis.

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg confirmed on Thursday that each of those four Tests will be red ball affairs, including Lyon’s favourite at Adelaide Oval.

Only the March 2027 one-off Test against England at the MCG (celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Ashes) will be played over the day-night format that prompted Lyon’s ommission in Brisbane, despite his impressive record with the pink ball.

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Five Tests for the next Border-Gavaskar series in India could yield anything for Lyon’s wicket tally given the pitches produced by the BBCI of late. So too, India’s stunning fallibility against visiting spinners, with South African journeyman Simon Harmer having taken 17 wickets in two Tests at an average of 8.9 last month.

From there, the Ashes loom. Lyon’s calf tear during the second Test in 2023 was pivotal – Australia did not win a Test in his absence as England came from 2-0 down to square the five-match series at 2-2.

The tourists have no such hope here. Similarly, Lyon must still be considered an outside chance of catching Warne’s all-time mark. But he’s a good shot of getting closer than you’d think.

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