Nathan Lyon achieves rare historic milestone in Test cricket

Lyon's appearance in the Lord's game is his 100th consecutive appearance in Test cricket. This earns him an entrance into an exclusive grouping, one which has only five more players as a part of it.

He is now only the sixth player, and the first-ever bowler, to play 100 consecutive Tests. Other players in the list are Alastair Cook (159), Allan Border (153), Mark Waugh (107), Sunil Gavaskar (106) and Brendon McCullum (101).

Coincidentally, he has achieved this landmark at Lord's, the same venue where he was dropped in the format for the last time. This was almost a decade ago during Australia's tour of England in 2013.

Speaking to Cricket Australia on the eve of this landmark, the off-spinner was proud of this achievement and even joked how the lack of hair on his head was a result of excessive Test cricket.

“That's something I'm really proud of. To be able to tick off 100 consecutive Test matches, that's a proper stat in my head,” Lyon said. “That's a lot of Test cricket, a lot of ups and downs. No wonder I've got no hair.”

Lyon credited his family and support setup, which included his personal trainer Tom Carter of the New South Wales Waratahs fame, for this prolonged run.

“For any athlete to be successful over a long period of time, you've got to have really good people around you, and I'm not talking within the Australian cricket team,” he added.

“I feel like my family has been absolutely amazing, with their support and love and care. Then there is Tom Carter, who is arguably one of my best mates but also my PT who I do a lot of work with behind the scenes.

“It's probably five days a week when we're at home, and he's a psychologist as well as a fitness trainer because I'm able to vent to him and there's no judgement. We have really good conversations, so it's probably having those really good people around you and I dare say a lot athletes would feel the same, being able to do it for a long period of time.”