Nathan Lyon must move on quickly from Ashes blunder, says Tim Paine
"We need to turn up in a much better frame of mind rather than have guys sulking or whatever. It hurts, deal with it, move on"
Monday 26 August 2019 12:06, UK
Tim Paine has urged Nathan Lyon to move on from the missed run-out opportunity that prevented Australia retaining the Ashes at Headingley.
Spinner Lyon fluffed the chance to dismiss Jack Leach at the non-striker's end shortly before Ben Stokes (135 not out) sealed a remarkable one-wicket win for England to level the series at 1-1.
Australia will still keep the urn if they triumph in either of the final two Tests, at Old Trafford from September 4 and The Oval from September 12.
"He's a really important player in our side and I said to him that if our players see him dealing with it really quickly and moving on then our younger players are going to do the same," captain Paine said of Lyon.
"We then turn up to Manchester or our next training session in a much better frame of mind rather than have guys sulking or whatever you want to call it. It hurts, deal with it, move on."
Australia were on the brink of keeping the Ashes when they reduced England to 286-9 in their chase of 359, only for Stokes to then thump Lyon and Josh Hazlewood for boundaries - including a reverse-swept six off the former - before marshalling No 11 Leach in an unbroken stand of 76.
Australia lost their final review when Paine called for DRS to have Leach out lbw and that proved costly when Lyon hit a sweeping Stokes on the pad - on-field umpire Joel Wilson turned down the appeal but ball tracking showed the delivery would have clattered middle and leg stump.
"It was close, tight and the crowd was loud. That was as hard as it gets for a touring side," added Paine.
"Sometimes people make mistakes and we made a couple. In the end it cost us a Test match, that and an unbelievable innings.
"We've got time now to make sure we stick together and bounce back. If we get caught up in the emotion of it all and get too down on things then the series can be taken away from you really quickly.
"The facts are that we've been in a position to win every Test that we've played in so we're doing something right, we've got to keep believing in that.
"If we can continue to execute on skill and not get caught up in the emotion, we think the next two Tests will be the same, we'll be in a position to win them. We're not going to be sulking about it for long."
Australia coach Justin Langer also wants to see Australia make wiser use of DRS, calling the review to have Leach lbw from a Pat Cummins ball that was shown to have pitched outside leg stump "desperate".
"We've been really poor at it this whole series. We've talked a lot about getting better at our reviews," said the 48-year-old.
"We've got a way we go about it but sometimes you don't quite get it right. The one off Cummins was getting pretty desperate at the end and that often happens. That's just how it works out.
"You've got no idea how much it hurts losing, but whether you're the captain, coach or a senior player, you've got to get up."
Steve Smith is on course to make his return in Australia's tour match against Derbyshire later this week following a concussion that sidelined him from the Headingley Test.
Should he come through unscathed then he is certain to feature at Old Trafford having contributed 144, 142 and 92 in his three previous innings.
"One thing I do know is that we're not batting well enough at the moment," added Langer.
"We've got some real questions to ask for the practice game and the fourth Test. We're going to have to rest some players, just to give them a mental freshen-up more than anything."
Watch day one of the fourth Ashes Test live on Sky Sports The Ashes and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Wednesday, September 4.
You can also follow over-by-over commentary and in-play clips on our rolling blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
