Nathan Lyon reveals how the sandpaper gate scandal forever robbed him of his 300th Test wicket ball

Australian national cricket team player Nathan Lyon revealed that he had not seen the ball with which he took his 300th Test wicket during the third Test of the infamous ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in Cape Town. He said his achievement wall was left with a black space because of that.

The test series between South Africa and Australia in 2018 was iconic in many ways. It was arguably one of the most exciting series as it not only saw the amazing competition between bat and ball but there were also many incidents that are still fresh in the minds of many.

Nathan Lyon removed Kagiso Rabada to take his 300th Test wicket

The series, known for the sandpaper gate incident, also saw Nathan Lyon picking up 300 wickets in Test cricket. It happened during the Cape Town test when the eliminated player eliminated Kagiso Rabada. But during those same innings, Australian players were also accused of ball tampering.

Although Nathan Lyon took the wicket of Kagiso Rabada with the new ball, and tampering with the ball was reported, the match umpire took both new balls. This is to prove the accusations, which later turned out to be true.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that ball since – Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon, while talking about his 300th Test wicket, said that it was unfortunate that he did not get the ball with which he took his 300th wicket. He revealed that he even contacted match referee David Boon to trace the ball, but he had no idea. about it. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he explained:

“(Kagiso) Rabada was perplexed because it was my 300th wicket. It was in the Cape Town Test. Unfortunately I haven’t seen that ball since. Yes, I think with everything that happened in that game, they took advantage of it to take a look at everything.”

“It was David Boon. I met him on the balcony of the team hotel in the Covid summer of 2020-21, and as an ICC match referee, he approached them (the ICC) through his work and tried to find him, and apparently , disappeared. missing. I don’t know where it is. There has been no further correspondence. It is what it is.”

It’s a long time coming, but it’s something I’m proud of – Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon further revealed that his wife created a piece of art where she placed all the milestone balls on the wall. But he mentioned that there is a blank space on the wall where the 300th Test wicket should have been. He elaborated:

“My wife has done an amazing piece of art where she put all the milestones or achievements on a wall in her house, which looked very special. Seeing the success I’ve been able to have and understanding that all the hard work can pay off. I’ve collected it since the beginning.

“This comes from a long time ago, but it’s something I’m proud of, and now my daughters are starting to get old enough to ask questions about what is this and what is that. I’m grateful for that, but at the end of the day” I guess I can throw a ball in there and say it’s number 300, and no one will know, right? (Right now) it’s just a blank space.”

Nathan Lyon currently has 530 wickets in 129 Test matches. He will be extremely important for his team in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. His 100th Test wicket was Stuart Broad, Dhananjaya de Silva was 200th, Dawid Malan was 400th and Faheem Ashraf was 500th wicket.

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