Nathan Lyon on the verge of achieving historic feat in Test cricket during 2nd Ashes Test

England and Australia clash in the second Test match of the Ashes 2023 series at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground from Wednesday onwards. The world champions Australia head into the match after winning the thrilling series opener by two wickets. Heading into the match, one of the key members of the Aussie squad, Nathan Lyon is approaching a massive personal milestone.

3 Things You Need To Know

• Nathan Lyon made his Test debut for Australia in 2011 
• Lyon has grabbed 495 wickets so far in his career
• He took a combined 8 wickets in the 1st Ashes 2023 Test

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ENG vs AUS, Ashes 2023: Nathan Lyon closes in on historic milestone

The 2nd Ashes Test marks Nathan Lyon’s 100th consecutive Test match for the Australian national team. Interestingly, the star spinner is just five wickets away from completing the remarkable tally of 500 Test wickets. The match will be Lyon’s 122nd Test appearance for Australia, which comes over a decade after he made his debut. Also, in the match, Nathan Lyon will become the only bowler so far to play 100 consecutive Test matches.

Lyon heads into the match after taking four wickets each in both innings of the first Test of the Ashes 2023 series in Edgbaston. He returned with figures of 4/149 and 4/80 as Australia won the match by chasing down 281 runs in the fourth innings. Interestingly, he remained unbeaten after scoring 16 runs off 28 runs as Aussie skipper Pat Cummins hit the winning runs.

More about the second Test of the England vs Australia Ashes 2023 series

Heading into the Lord’s Test, Australia have a selection dilemma between two of their pacers. While Lyon looks almost certain to retain his place in the XI, skipper Cummins has to make the tough choice of playing either Mitchell Starc or Scott Boland. On the other hand, England announced an all-seam bowling attack for the second Test match on Tuesday.

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Here’s a look at the playing XIs for the ENG vs AUS 2nd Test of Ashes 2023

England’s playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson

Australia’s playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland/Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

The England vs Australia, second Ashes Test is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. IST on Wednesday, June 28. The coin toss is scheduled to begin 30 minutes prior to the start of the match.