AUS vs PAK: Nathan Lyon passed 500 Test wickets, scoring 360 in the first Test in Perth as Australia cruised to victory over Pakistan. Lyon, who was already third in the list of highest wicket-takers for Australia in Tests, has now become the eighth bowler overall to take 500 Test wickets.
The 36-year-old achieved this feat when he trapped Faheem Ashraf in front and took Pakistan’s seventh wicket. After this, he took his 501st wicket by dismissing Aamer Jamal after three balls.
Pakistan was already struggling in front of the huge target of 450 runs, but could not hold on for long after this and was out for 89 runs, giving Australia a 360-run win.
This is Australia’s second-biggest win in terms of runs against Pakistan in Test cricket. Earlier in the day, Australia picked up the bat for half-centuries with Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh despite the wickets of Steve Smith and Travis Head.
The pair went into overdrive in the middle session, before Khawaja (90) edged Babar Azam in the deep during the attack. After being out, captain Pat Cummins announced the innings for Australia, that is, Marsh was out after scoring 63* runs in 68 balls.
Australia achieved early success in Pakistan’s second innings when Mitchell Starc dismissed Abdullah Shafiq (2) in his first over. Soon after, Josh Hazlewood opened his account by dismissing captain Shan Masood (2), before Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed by Starc for 10 runs. He lost Babar Azam just before tea, leaving the hosts needing just six wickets to win the game.
Australia kept the pressure on the visitors by taking wickets at regular intervals and quickly destroyed the budding partnerships between Pakistan’s batsmen. After Lyon’s attack, Josh Hazlewood got the visitors out of trouble by dismissing the last two batsmen in the same over.
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Mitchell Marsh was chosen player of the match for his innings of 90 and 63* runs in the match. He also took the important wicket of Babar Azam in the first innings.
This win means that Pakistan has lost its perfect record in the World Test Championship 2025 table and slipped to number 2. Meanwhile, Australia is at fifth place with 41.67 PCT.
Test Wicket Record
| Player | Team | Test Matches | Wickets |
| Muttiah Muralidaran | Sri Lanka | 133 | 800 |
| Shane Warne | Australia | 145 | 708 |
| James Anderson | England | 183 | 690 |
| Anil Kumble | India | 132 | 619 |
| Stuart Broad | England | 167 | 604 |
| Glenn McGrath | Australia | 124 | 563 |
| Courtney Walsh | West Indies | 132 | 519 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | 123 | 501 |
| R Ashwin | India | 94 | 489 |
| Dale Steyn | South Africa | 93 | 439 |
Australia vs Pakistan 2nd Match Details:
| Match | Date & Time | Teams | Venue |
| 2nd Test Match, Pakistan tour of Australia, 2023-24 | 5:00 AM, Tuesday, December 26, 2023 | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
Australia vs Pakistan Squads:
Australia: (First Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Lance Morris, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner
Pakistan: Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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