“You have lunch side by side with one buffet so if something’s happened you can make eye contact with someone across from you if it gets a bit controversial. Did you cross paths with Jonny in the lunchroom?” Haddin asked Lyon.
“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 said with obvious humour.
England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow clashed with Australian players in the Lord’s lunchroom after his controversial dismissal,according to injured spinner Nathan Lyon.Credit:Reuters
“You would not have calmed it down,” Haddin laughed.
Lyon claimed the Australians were taken aback by the booing and abuse of the MCC members,who have the privilege of having players walk past them indoors coming on and off the field. Lord’s is the only place in the world where this takes place.
“The emotions in the room were quite remarkable,” said Lyon,who suffered a serious calf injury earlier in the match and will have a three-month recovery program.
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“Everyone was gobsmacked but found it’s hilarious because you walk through that Long Room and you’re more chance of getting sued than punched. So,you look at it like that and all these guys abusing you,and you’re like ‘what’s going on here?’ It was quite funny in all respects.”
He was delighted when Carey ran out Bairstow with the match in the balance and England captain Ben Stokes beginning to unwind.
“I was in the change room and I just erupted. I was like ‘how good. Suck eggs. That’s out every day of the (week)’,” Lyon recalled.
“It was actually quite interesting. Jamie Cox,who used to be part of South Australian cricket and an (Australian) selector and obviously Tasmanian cricketer,he’s now over at the MCC,and I was out the back at Lord’s talking to him. I actually had an older lady come up to me in tears,” said Lyon.
“She was 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 Lord’s’.
“I just told her don’t worry about it,we’re all OK,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.”
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