Australian spinner Nathan Lyon tears strips out of the 'BazBall' hysteria when asked for his thoughts on England's much publicised style of cricket and the infamous Ashes series between the two sides
Friday 24 November 2023 17:27, UK
Nathan Lyon has stuck his boot into England with another cheeky Ashes swipe at 'BazBall' and pouring cold water on suggestions Australia's rivals have revolutionised the longest format of the game.
Australia retained the Ashes against arch-rivals England after the five-Test series ended up in a 2-2 draw, with Lyon only featuring in the first two matches - both won by Australia - before being sidelined with injury.
Lyon has dismissed the fact that England believe they have revolutionised the longest format of the game with their 'BazBall' style centred around aggressive batting and tactics.
"I'm 2-0 against Bazball so I am happy," Lyon joked when asked about England's much-publicised philosophy on Channel 7's Front Bar program. "It's a load of s***, if you ask me. It's a brand of cricket that the English want to keep going with. Now it's in the dictionary, which is pretty extraordinary."
Earlier this year, Lyon explained: "I know everyone keeps talking about BazBall, to be honest, I didn't really see BazBall… throughout my two Tests against them.
"I look at the Australian cricket team and the batters we've had, David Warner for example… I've seen him score hundreds in a session and that's off playing an attacking brand of cricket. I think there's a lot of smoke and mirrors with BazBall, if I'm being honest with you, and I feel like if you're going to play an aggressive brand of cricket anyway, it's about being able to go up and down in gears and understanding the moments in the game."
The series was overshadowed by the incident when Jonny Bairstow was stumped by Alex Carey during the second Test at Lord's in a moment that sparked debate over the 'spirit of cricket'.
Lyon, who was watching the drama unfold from the pavilion, defended the actions of his fellow players and laid the blame squarely with Bairstow for wandering out of his crease.
"It's quite simple. Stay in your crease and you won't get out," said Lyon, who has taken 496 wickets in Test cricket for Australia. "But I was in the change rooms on my crutches watching and I think I celebrated more than anyone. It was pretty amazing. But I've never seen a crowd react like that after anything."
Despite the backlash, Lyon said his team-mates laughed at how badly England's supporters took the incident with several MCC members banned for abusing the Australian players as they made their way back to the changing rooms.
"We all found it pretty funny," Lyon added. "You look in the Long Room and we all said we were more a chance of getting sued than punched. So we were pretty amazed by it. But it was funny. When the guys came back out after lunch, it was like the members got spoken to from the head master and it was all primary school kids again."
