Last Updated: July 18, 2023, 08:12 AM IST
Usman Khawaja was stopped by a spectator in the Lord’s long room on Day 5 of the second Test (Twitter)
Nathan Lyon revealed what exactly transpired at the Lord’s Long Room as the Australian team made their way back to the dressing room.
With the Ashes Tests rolling on, the fallout from Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping continues to make headlines. The second match at Lord’s was won by Australia after Bairstow was stumped when he ducked a bouncer and immediately left his crease to meet his partner Ben Stokes in the middle. England claim he believed the umpires called, ‘Over,’ meaning the ball was dead. Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey tossed down the stumps and Bairstow was given out after a brief review.
As the teams made their way back to the dressing room, Englishmen in the Long Room hurled abuses and clashed with the Australian players. Nathan Lyon, in a recent podcast, revealed what exactly transpired.
“There were a few Australian guys and a few English guys in the lunchroom and I hobbled up on my crutches and stood in the middle of it and tried to calm things down a little bit.” Lyon told the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast, which is co-hsted by Brad Haddin.
“Jonny had a few words here or there. That’s all part of it, I’m all for it,” Lyon added.
Lyon narrated how an old lady came up to him to appologise.
“I actually had an older lady come up to me in tears, an English lady in tears from the main members’ area, and she said ‘I’ve got to go home. I just want to apologise to you Australian cricketers for the way everyone has reacted inside the Lord’s”, Lyon said.
“I just told her don’t worry about it, we’re all okay, we’re not worried about getting sledged. But it hit home for me that Ashes cricket can affect so many people in different ways and just the actions of people can hit so many different people as well. It was a nice moment but an awkward moment with the lady in genuine tears about it all.”
Lyon also said that he thought Bairstow’s dismissal was fair and out.
“I was in the change room and I just erupted. I was like ‘how good. Suck eggs. That’s out every day’,” he said.
Australians continued to draw abuse from the crowd last week in Leeds, where England won to trim the visitors’ lead to 2-1. as the Ashes moves to Old Trafford from Wednesday.
Lyon also revealed that he knew his Ashes campaign was over the moment his right calf tore at Lord’s.
“[Ben] Duckett played the pull shot, got a top edge and I went to take off and I just heard this little gun shot and just felt it go straight away. I knew straight away my series was done there and then,” he said.
“I knew I was out for the next 10-12 weeks. So I took a couple of tablets, got strapped from my knee down, couldn’t move my foot at all and hobbled out, stood in the Long Room and waited to bat,” he added.
Lyon, now back in Australia after the second Test, said he is hopeful of making areturn to cricket come end of September.
“The positive thing about all this is I’ve got a lot of time,” he said. “The next Test match that Australia will [play] at home is mid-December against Pakistan. I’ve got plenty of time…to make sure we do the rehab and we do it properly so it’s not a reoccurring thing. I’ll definitely get some Shield in. I’m not going to say I’ll be right for game one. Ideally I’d like to play that but I’m not going to push it.”
