Nathan Lyon
On 1 September 2011, on Test debut in Galle, Nathan Lyon bowled Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara — one of the world's best batsmen — with his very first ball in Test cricket, the first Australian to do so since 1894, and finished with 5 for 34. About nine months earlier he had been on the Adelaide Oval grounds staff, an off-spinner mowing and preparing pitches with barely any first-class cricket behind him. Spotted by South Australia's Twenty20 coach Darren Berry after a December 2010 match, he went from state debut to the Australian Test squad inside a year. Lyon became Australia's most successful off-spinner, passing Hugh Trumble in 2015, and by the 2025–26 Ashes had overtaken Glenn McGrath to sit second only to Shane Warne on Australia's all-time list, with more than 560 Test wickets. He was also the first specialist bowler to play 100 consecutive Tests — a streak that ended with a calf tear at Lord's in the 2023 Ashes.