Lyon enters history books with 200th Test wicket

Nathan Lyon has become just the fifth Australian spin bowler to take 200 Test wickets, achieving the milestone on day three of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy.

Report & Highlights: SL fight on day three in Kandy

The off-spinner removed Dhananjaya de Silva for 36 to complete wicket number 200 in the final session of the third day, joining Shane Warne (708 Test wickets), Richie Benaud (248), Clarrie Grimmett (216) and Stuart MacGill (208) in reaching the mark. He is the 16th Australian overall to achieve the feat and the first off-spinner.

It wasn't the most memorable dismissal of Lyon's career, with the debutant De Silva attempting to drive and simply looping an easy catch to Usman Khawaja at mid off.

The spinner was mobbed by his teammates on a difficult day for the tourists, which saw the home side fight their way back into the match.

Lyon's milestone wicket breaks Sri Lankan resistance

Lyon came into the match with 195 Test wickets to his name and crept closer with three wickets in just three overs on the opening day. He claimed wicket number 199 when he had Sri Lanka's skipper Angelo Mathews caught at short leg during the morning session today but was made to wait before he dismissed De Silva after tea.

Lyon's milestone is yet another happy memory for him in Sri Lanka, the destination of his Test debut and his maiden five-wicket haul five years ago.

"I can't wipe the smile off my face that's for sure," Lyon told media after play.

"I'm very proud of it. But in saying that, it probably hasn't really sunk in yet in the middle of a pretty hard Test match.

"I'll look back on it at the end of this Test or at the end of the series and look at the achievement.

"It's been a pretty good ride so far, so hopefully there are a few more (wickets) to come."

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The tweaker's first international match came in the first Test of Australia's tour of the island nation in 2011, in the coastal city of Galle, around 220km south of Kandy.

In that match, Lyon picked up the wicket of the great Kumar Sangakkara with his very first ball in Tests and finished with figures of 5-34, a stunning introduction to Test cricket for a man who had only made his first-class debut six months earlier.

The 28-year-old has carried the moniker of 'The GOAT' (Greatest Of All Time) among his teammates since last year's tour of the West Indies, when he picked up his 142nd Test wicket to surpass turn-of-the-century tweaker Hugh Trumble as Australia's most prolific off-spinner.

Quick Single: Understated Lyon secures place in history

And his latest achievement is yet another significant step for the former groundskeeper, who hails from the town of Young in country New South Wales and whose curating career took him to Canberra and then Adelaide before his cricketing prowess took precendent.

Lyon has always preferred to restrict talk of records and personal achievements until his post-playing days, but he rightly allowed himself a brief moment of reflection after surpassing Trumble's record in Jamaica last year.

"I'm pretty proud. It's a big moment," Lyon said.

Quick Single: Walking the Lyon to greatness

"As I keep saying, and always say, I'll look back at these things at the end of my career.

"I am proud of the achievement that's for sure. It's a big record to break. Hopefully I can add to it."

There is no doubt Lyon will add to it, and significantly.

Entrenched as Australia's first-choice spinner, three years after he was dropped twice during Australia's 2013 tours of India and England, Lyon is tracking towards becoming one of Australian cricket's most successful ever bowlers should he maintain his fitness and form.

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Based on his current record of roughly 40 wickets and 11 Tests per year, Lyon should have somewhere between 450 and 500 Test wickets by the time he's 35.

For now, though, 'The GOAT' has his eyes set firmly on an Australian victory in Kandy and his pursuit of the 300-wicket milestone.