Nathan Lyon goes past Ian Botham with first five-for in Sydney

Australia spinner Nathan Lyon on Sunday surpassed England’s legendary all-rounder Ian Botham in the list for leading wicket-takers in the longest format of the game.

He achieved the feat on day three of the ongoing third Test between Australia and New Zealand.

The spinner now has 385 wickets in Tests, while Botham had 383 wickets. Lyon has now moved to the 17th spot in the list, lead by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan with 800 wickets.

Lyon dismissed Tom Blundell (49), Jeet Raval (31), William Somerville (0), Neil Wagner (0) and Matt Henry (3) on day three to complete his first five-wicket haul at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Now, Lyon has taken a five-wicket haul against all Test-playing nations except Ireland and Afghanistan - he’s yet to play against them.

He has taken seven five-wicket hauls against India, three against Bangladesh and one each against New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies

This is the Australian off spinner’s 17th five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game.

Lyon’s efforts helped Australia to bundle out New Zealand for 251 runs in the first innings and this gave the hosts a lead of 203 runs.

Apart from Lyon, Pat Cummins scalped three wickets for Australia.

In the first innings, Australia had scored 454 runs with the help of Marnus Labuschagne’s maiden double ton.