Nathan Lyon takes wicket No. 500 for Australia, Pat Cummins predicts him to reach 700

Pat Cummins thinks Nathan Lyon still has four or five years of Test cricket left in him ‘at least’, predicting a final wicket tally rivalling Shane Warne. Plus more on the GOAT’s 500th here.

Pat Cummins has backed Nathan Lyon to play beyond his 40th birthday and join Shane Warne by taking 700 Test wickets after the off-spinner broke through for his 500th on Sunday.

While Lyon, 36, said he would be taking things “wicket by wicket” from here, his captain, sitting alongside the “GOAT” post-play, said Lyon was capable of going on for a while yet.

“You’ve still got another four, five years at least, 10 games a year,” Cummins said.

“I still think you’ve got say 40, 50 Test matches, that’s four or five years, 10 a year. Probably average what, four a game? 700.”

CRASH: ‘SUBTLE BUT SEDUCTIVE’ - THE TRUE BEAUTY OF THE GOAT

- Robert Craddock

In order to appreciate the full gravitas of Nathan Lyon’s 500 Test wickets you have to take a peep at what’s happened behind and around him.

Then you notice the second best Australian off-spinner after him, the long gone Hugh Trumble, took just 141 wickets and died 85 years ago.

You look around the modern world and see England’s latest off-spinner for their Indian Test tour, 20-year-old Shoaib Bashir, has taken just 10 first class wickets at 67 in his life.

Past or present the stats and the facts all tell the same story … Lyon is not part of a production line. He is a one off. An outlier blazing a trail which, outside Asia, may never be followed.

The Aussies celebrate Nathan Lyon’s 500th wicket. Picture: Getty Images

Lyon lifts the ball in the air after taking the milestone wicket. Picture: Getty Images

His journey is a contradiction because off-spin is cricket’s easiest and toughest trade, the one you turn to if you cannot do anything else. Anyone can bowl it. Barely anyone can bowl it with venom.

To do it well, as Lyon does, is like winning a Masterchef with a magnificently cooked pikelet.

The amazing thing about Lyon is he has done it without plucking a rabbit from his cap. He was never funky. For all of his playful suggestions about new balls there is no finger flicking mystery ball.

The thing about Lyon is that for all of his steadiness there is an insecure side of him as well.

Mitchell Starc, his closest friend in the team, once said of Lyon “he has played 85 debut Tests’’, a reference to the nerves he used to carry into games which used to occasionally prompt him to play raindrops on roof-tile soundtrack overnight to help him sleep.

Lyon is one of Australia’s greatest. Picture: Getty Images

A snapshot of Lyon’s remarkable career

HIS BIGGEST SKILL: It’s subtle but seductive. He drags his fingers over the ball rather than around it which means he gets drop and bounce and the ball lands fractionally short of where batsmen expect.

Two classic illustrations of this came in Pakistan’s first innings when he had Aamer Jamal and Imam-ul-Haq stumped by balls which dropped and turned.

GREATEST FOE: Without doubt South African champion AB deVilliers. This chameleon of the crease – Mr 360 - had shots everywhere and even Lyons conceded he “just understood and read the game beautifully’’ and “could hit a little finger spinner out of the park in any direction he wanted to.’’

Lyon sits third in the all-time wickets column for Australian bowlers in Test matches. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

GREATEST BUNNY: He may have snared India’s batting wall Cheteshwar Pujara 13 times but England’s Moeen Ali was dominated technically and mentally by Lyon, falling 10 times and mocking his own record when he walked into the SCG dressing rooms after the final Test of the last tour of Australia with a sign hanging from his chin with the words “hit me Garry.’’

BEST QUOTE ABOUT LYON: “Every time we play an Ashes we analyse their bowlers and finish with “and of course, there’s Lyon.’’ Then he comes out and takes 25 wickets. I’m sick of us underrating him. He troubles us every time.’’ English fast man Stuart Broad.

BEST COMPLIMENT: When the technically superb Pakistan batsman Younis Khan was in the midst of an incredible series (468 at 156) against Australia in Dubai in 2014 he told Lyon “I had to start sweeping you because I was struggling with your stock ball.’’ Lyon knew if his stock ball could pass that test, it could pass anything.