5 Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon

After a long search for a regular spinner in the post-Shane Warne era, Australia finally found what they were looking for in 2011 when they opted for a groundsman-cum-off-spinner from country New South Wales. Having shown his ability as a net bowler while working as a curator’s assistant at the Adelaide Oval, Lyon made an immediate impact in Twenty20 cricket for South Australia. With just a handful of first-class matches under his belt, Lyon was rushed into Australia’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in 2011. The wiry tweaker showed no sign of nerves on Test debut, dismissing Kumar Sangakkara with his very first ball and finishing with figures of 5-34. Lyon has since then been a mainstay in red-ball cricket for Australia, overtaking the legendary Hugh Trumble’s tally of 141 wickets in 2015 to become the nation’s most successful Test off-spinner. Deservedly christened as the GOAT – greatest of all time – by his teammates, Lyon also went on to become the sixth Australian to scale the 300-wicket mark in Test cricket in 2017.

Nathan Lyon became the youngest ever Australian finger spinner to reach 100 Test wickets when he achieved the milestone against England at the MCG in 2013, at the age of 26 years and 38 days.