OTD | Star Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon was born in 1987

The veteran Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon is celebrating his 36th birthday today on November 20. The New South Wales-born has an illustrious international career of more than 12 years in the Australian colours since his debut in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka on September 3, 2011. 

Notably, Nathan Lyon is only the sixth player in the world to play most successive Tests in a row, appearing in 100 Tests for Australia from 2013 to 2023. He is just behind the former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum (101 successive Tests) and the former legendary Indian skipper one of the all-time greatest batters, Sunil Gavaskar (106 successive Tests) who are on the fifth and fourth spot, respectively in the list.

Alastair Cook is on the top of the list with 159 consecutive Tests, followed by Allan Border (153 successive Tests) and Mark Waugh (107 successive Tests) on the second and third spot, respectively.

One of the all-time bowling greats, ever played for Australia:

Since his international debut in 2011, Lyon has appeared in 122 Tests, 29 ODIs and 2 T20Is. In Tests, he is one of the most successful active bowlers in the world of cricket, with a sensational record of 496 wickets in 228 Test innings, having a best performance of 8/50 in an innings.

The 36-year-old has 23 five-wicket hauls, alongside 22 four-wicket hauls in his Test career, scalping 10 wickets in a Test match on four occasions. Apart from this, he has also picked 29 wickets in 29 ODIs, with one 4-wicket haul. 

He was recently a part of the Ashes 2023 for Australia, where he made it to the headlines when he came to bat there in the middle with an injured leg in his 100th Test match of his international career. One of the major highlights of that brave outing, Lyon was that he smashed a four on Stuart Broad’s delivery. 

Currently, he is out of action from international cricket due to an injury since the Ashes 2023; Australia are hoping their star bowler will come back very soon considering his importance in the World Test Championship cycle of 2023-2025. 

Also read: OTD| Star India player Yusuf Pathan was born in 1982