Nathan Lyon reveals how sandpaper gate scandal stole his 300th Test-wicket milestone ball forever

Australia National Cricket Team off-spinner Nathan Lyon revealed how he hadn’t seen the ball with which he took his 300th Test wicket during the infamous ball-tampering scandal third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. He said that his wall of achievements has been left with a black space because of that.

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

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

The series, which was known for the sandpaper gate incident, also saw Nathan Lyon picking 300 wickets in Test cricket. It happened during the Cape Town Test when the off-spinner removed Kagiso Rabada. But during that same innings, Australian bowlers were accused of ball tampering as well.

Although Nathan Lyon took the wicket of Kagiso Rabada with the new ball, with ball-tampering being reported, the match referee took both the new balls. This is to check the allegations, which later turned out to be true.

I haven’t seen that ball since, unfortunately - Nathan Lyon

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

“(Kagiso) Rabada stumped was my 300th wicket. It was at the Cape Town Test. I haven’t seen that ball since, unfortunately. Yeah, I think with everything that happened that game, they took it to have a look at it all,”

“It was David Boon. I bumped into him on the balcony of the team hotel in the Covid summer of 2020-21, and being an ICC match referee, he reached out to them (the ICC) through his work and tried to find it, and apparently, it’s gone missing. Don’t know where it is. There’s been no more correspondence. It is what it is.”

It goes back a long way but it’s something I’m proud of - Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon further revealed that his wife has created artwork where she had put all the milestone balls on the wall. But he mentioned that there's a blank space on the wall where the 300th Test wicket ball should have been there. He elaborated:

“My wife has done an amazing piece of artwork where she’s put all the milestone balls or achievements on a wall at home which looked pretty special. To see the success I’ve been able to have and understand that all the hard work can pay off. I’ve collected from the start.

"It goes back a long way, but it’s something I’m proud about, and now my girls are starting to get old enough to ask questions about what’s this and what’s that. I am grateful for that, but at the end of the day, I guess I can just throw a ball in there and say it’s the 300th, and no one will know, will they? (At the moment) 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 his 200th, Dawid Malan his 400th, and Faheem Ashraf was his 500th wicket.

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