SL vs AUS | Nathan Lyon says Australia deserves to be the best in Test

Under Pat Cummins's leadership, Australia have been a force to reckon with, clinching The Ashes 4-0 and then beating Pakistan 1-0 in their backyard, which is no easy task.

Cummins and his troops are gearing up to continue their winning ways in the upcoming 2-match Test series against hosts Sri Lanka, starting June 29 at the picturesque Galle Stadium.

Ahead of the opening encounter, off-spinner Nathan Lyon has said that the Australian side deserves to be the best in Test cricket given the rough few years they have endured and risen.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Lyon said, "I think we deserve it [to be the best]. I know that sounds quite arrogant, but we've done a lot of hard work as a team and gone through some ups and downs, but I think we deserve some late reward in all our journeys."

"We've got the experience and skill to achieve this around the world, and we're on a journey to becoming hopefully a great Australian cricket team, and that's our goal. If you ask Pat, that should be his end goal. But we're far from that at the moment – we're improving and heading in the right direction. But a big group of senior players here have been around for a long time."

He further dwelled on his end goal: to win the Test Championship in this ongoing cycle.

"You have more bad days than good days in Test cricket, so we've been at the absolute bottom, and, hopefully, we're on our way up to the pinnacle. The Test Championship is a big goal for me. I think if we keep playing a positive brand of cricket then hopefully we'll be in that final and give ourselves the best chance to win it," Lyon explained.

Australia are currently placed at the top of the championship table with 75.0 PCT, having won 5 and drawn three games.

Lyon, who has 427 Test scalps from 108 appearances, also talked about learning from assistant coach and New Zealand legend Daniel Vettori.

Australia's number one off-spinner concluded, "I've still got the itch. Having someone like Dan Vettori on tour here, I'm bloody excited about it because having the last three sessions with Dan; I'm starting to get a lot better, potentially tactically but also with subtle little wrist movements that he was very good at."

"You talk to Dan, and he wasn't the biggest turner of the ball, but he was so good at subtle variations. There's no end in sight for me – I'm hungrier than ever; I've got some big goals I want to tick off personally and as a team. So if I do those goals personally, we'll pick off the team goals. No end in sight for me."

Australia have a lot of Test cricket coming their way, with the West Indies and South African sides touring Down Under after the T20 World Cup.

They also have a 4-Test series planned against India in India later this year.