Nathan Lyon’s 2 for 58 in South Africa’s first innings at Kingsmead did more than help bowl the hosts out for 284 — it confirmed that Lyon, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have become the first bowling quartet in Test history to have taken 600 wickets between them in matches they have played together. Each of the four had already reached 300 Test wickets individually before this series began, a collective milestone that dwarfs anything managed by a comparable attack before it.
A Record With No Real Rival
The nearest comparison is England’s attack of Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes, whose combined wickets-together tally sits at 415 — some 185 behind the Australian quartet. The gap speaks to the remarkable longevity of Australia’s pace-and-spin combination, which has now played together across multiple Ashes cycles, multiple World Test Championship campaigns and tours to nearly every corner of the Test-playing world, all while avoiding the serious, career-ending injuries that typically break up even the most celebrated attacks.
Lyon’s Personal Renaissance
For Lyon individually, the milestone arrives amid a quieter story of recovery. Set to turn 39 next month, he recovered from a serious hamstring tear and was twice overlooked for Test selection in the past year before working his way back into Australia’s first-choice attack. He has also not had a drink of alcohol in roughly nine months, a lifestyle change he credits with part of his improved fitness and form. “I’m probably in the best shape of my career,” he said after play in Durban, before reflecting on the 600-wicket landmark: “Pretty bloody special — something I’ll look back on when my career’s done.”
How Long Can It Last?
Lyon has made no secret of his ambition to keep playing at least until the end of next year’s Ashes series in England, a target that would make him Australia’s oldest frontline bowler since Bill O’Reilly featured in 1948. “I still see a lot of decent cricket ahead of me,” he said — a claim that would have seemed improbable twelve months ago, when fitness concerns and selection snubs threatened to end his international career prematurely.
The Case for Caution
Not everyone is convinced the quartet can simply keep rolling on. Australia’s own team management has already signalled concerns about workload, with Cameron Green sidelined by injury during this series and uncertainty persisting over how long Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood — all in their thirties and all carrying the wear of over a decade of international pace bowling — can continue at the same volume, particularly with an Ashes tour and a possible World Test Championship final both on the horizon within the next twelve months. Managing four bowlers simultaneously chasing personal milestones, selectors have quietly noted, is not the same as managing a team’s long-term bowling resources.
What It Means for the Series
In the immediate term, the record underlines why Australia have been able to apply such sustained pressure in Durban: South Africa’s middle order collapsed for 3 for 15 in ten overs on day three, precisely the kind of spell this long-serving attack has built its reputation on. With Australia already 139 runs ahead and pushing for victory, the quartet’s experience reading conditions and building pressure in partnership has been as decisive as any individual performance in the match.
What’s Next
The record will travel with Australia to St George’s Park in Gqeberha for the second Test from October 18-22, and on to Newlands in Cape Town from October 27-31, with every wicket taken in the series now adding to a tally no comparable attack has matched. Beyond this series, the quartet’s next major assignment is a home series against New Zealand before Australia tour India for a five-Test Border-Gavaskar series — a schedule that will test both their bodies and the 600-wicket record’s staying power.
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