Wellington: Australia’s spin maestro Nathan Lyon was one of the chief architects in the formation of their massive 172-run win over New Zealand here.
Nathan Lyon returned a brilliant 10-wicket match haul, with returns of 4/43 and 6/65 in the two innings, respectively.
He became only the tenth spinner to take a ten-wicket match haul in men’s Tests in New Zealand and the only Australian spinner to do so. Additionally, he is the first bowler to secure a 10-for in Tests in New Zealand since 2006.
In the first innings, Lyon (521), also surpassed West Indies great Courtney Walsh (519) in the all-time men's Test wicket takers' list. After the completion of the test, he added six more to his tally, taking it to 527.
With this win, Australia further consolidated their third position in the ICC World Test Championship 2023–25 standings. They are now marginally behind New Zealand, which slipped to No. 2 following the loss in Wellington, an ICC report said.
New Zealand resumed the day on 111/3 after making a comeback with the ball on the previous day thanks to Glenn Phillips’ maiden Test five-wicket haul that bowled Australia out for 164. However, it was still an uphill task for the Blackcaps to chase a big target of 369.
Lyon made the most of the conditions, which were assisting both turn and bounce. In only the seventh over of day four, he sparked a New Zealand collapse with twin strikes.
He first had the set batter Rachin Ravindra caught at point for 59, and two balls later, he sent back Tom Blundell for a duck.
That added pressure on the hosts, slipping from 126/3 to 126/5 in just one over. In Lyon’s next over, the tally became 128/6 as he trapped Phillips LBW for 1. He was the Australian spinner’s fifth wicket of the innings.
A few boundaries followed from Scott Kuggeleijn’s bat, with Daryl Mitchell holding fort from another end. However, their defense was eventually broken by Cameron Green. The extra bounce did the trick for the Australian pacer, bringing an end to Kuggeleijn’s cameo of 28-ball 26.
Matt Henry played a few masterful strokes, including a six off Lyon, before getting caught in a second slip off Josh Hazlewood.
Lyon completed his 10-wicket match haul with the wicket of Tim Southee, who was his sixth of the innings, while Hazlewood wrapped up New Zealand with the final wicket of Mitchell, who made a fighting 130-ball 38.
The two sides will meet for the final test in Christchurch, beginning March 8.
