Top 10 highest wicket takers for Australia in Tests: Lyon goes past McGrath, Cummins overtakes Lee

Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins celebrated personal milestones as Australia continued to dominate England in the ongoing Ashes series during the second day of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.

Lyon, the 38-year-old off-spinner, took two wickets in an over to go past former pacer Glenn McGrath (563) and become the second-most successful bowler in Test cricket for Australia in his 141st Test. Only Shane Warner (708), the legendary leg-spinner, is ahead of Lyon. Overall, Lyon is now the sixth-highest wicket taker in the longest format of the sport.

Introduced into the attack in the 10th over of England’s innings after Australia finished on 371, Lyon had Ollie Pope caught by Josh Inglis at midwicket on his third ball. On the final delivery, he hit the top of off stump to dismiss opener Ben Duckett to reduce the visitors to 42 for 3.

Skipper Pat Cummins picked up three wickets, overtaking former speedster Brett Lee (310) and moving with one scalp of matching the tally of Mitchell Johnson (313), the former left-arm fast bowler who is in sixth place.

READ | Nathan Lyon goes past Glenn McGrath, becomes 6th-highest wicket taker in Tests

The current Australian bowling attack also features left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, who is fourth on the list with 420 wickets.

Right-arm fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who has been ruled out of the series due to injury, is ninth with 295 dismissals.

England finished the day at 213 for 8, trailing by 158 runs with skipper Ben Stokes (45 not out) and Jofra Archer (30 not out) in the middle, and only Josh Tongue left to bat.

Australia leads the series 2-0 after winning the first two Tests in Perth and Brisbane by an identical margin of eight wickets. While Lyon was omitted from the lineup from Brisbane, Cummins was forced to sit out both games due to fitness issues and the home team was led by Steve Smith.

However, Cummins returned to action in style as it took him only 22 balls to strike in his 72nd Test. In his fourth over, he found the outside edge of England opener Zak Crawley’s bat before wicketkeeper Alex Carey completed a simple catch. In his sixth over, the 32-year-old pacer went past Lee’s tally by removing Joe Root in the same fashion.

Later in the day, Cummins also dismissed Jamie Smith, albeit in controversial manner. Smith played and missed a pull shot off Cummins, prompting an appeal from Australia for a caught behind. On-field umpire Nitin Menon sent the decision upstairs to third umpire Chris Gaffaney without offering an on-field verdict, with neither side seeking a DRS review.

Gaffaney ruled that the catch had carried cleanly to wicketkeeper Alex Carey and adjudged Smith out, despite the Snicko spike appearing only a frame after the ball had passed the bat.

Top 10 highest wicket takers in Tests for Australia

Shane Warne – 708 wickets in 145 Tests

Nathan Lyon – 564 wickets in 141 Tests

Glenn McGrath – 563 wickets in 124 Tests

Mitchell Starc – 420 wickets in 103 Tests

Dennis Lillee – 355 wickets in 70 Tests

Mitchell Johnson – 313 wickets in 73 Tests

Pat Cummins – 312 wickets in 72 Tests

Brett Lee – 310 wickets in 76 Tests

Josh Hazlewood – 295 wickets in 76 Tests

Craig McDermott – 291 wickets in 71 Tests

Published on Dec 18, 2025