Narromine and Young hold special slice of history on world cricket stage

Two of Australia's best Test match bowlers hail from Country NSW, accounting for 1066 wickets ... and counting.

Of course, the three home towns mentioned belong, in order, to the legendary Shane Warne, Australia's greatest pace bowler Glenn McGrath and our current spinner, Nathan Lyon.

They're the only Australian bowlers to pass 500 career Test wickets. In fact, only eight bowlers anywhere across the world have passed that magical mark - names like Muralidaran, Anderson, Kumble, Broad and Walsh sit alongside the Australia trio.

The list evolves: Kandy, St Kilda, Burnley, Bangalore, Nottingham, Narromine, Kingston, Young.

It makes the fact two of them are from Country NSW even more remarkable.

Lyon passed the milestone in the first Test against Pakistan at Perth before Christmas. The wily off-spinner grabbed his 500th Test wicket when dismissing Faheem Ashraf.

McGrath did so during the 2005 Ashes series, picking up Marcus Trescothick at Lord's. The Narromine quick's rise from bush cricketer to international gun is well documented, having famously moved from Narromine to Sydney at age 19 with his caravan in tow.

"I'm proud to call myself a Narromine boy," he said at his statue unveiling in Narromine in 2009.

"I used to catch the bus into school from the farm. I was involved in all sports not just cricket."

A proud Victorian, the late Shane Warne was the first Aussie to pass the mark in 2004. He took the wicket of Sri Lankan bat Hashan Tillakaratne at Galle. He was just the second player in history to record the feat, joining Courtney Walsh in the 500 club.

Warne went on to claim 708 wickets from 145 Test matches and will take some catching as Australia's most prolific wicket-taker.

While McGrath finished his 124 Test matches with 563 wickets. That mark remains an achievable hurdle for Lyon to clear should he continue on in Australia's Test match side.

*numbers correct as of 9am, December 28.