Aussie Ashes star staggered by ‘old lady’ England fan after fiery row

Nathan Lyon has revealed that he was confronted by a crying old lady after MCC members clashed with Australian players following the infamous dismissal of Jonny Bairstow during England’s run chase on day five of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.

With the dismissal coming 15 minutes before the lunch break, crowds in the Long Room gathered to make their opinions heard as the Australian players went to their dressing room. Squabbles between Australian players and MCC members ensued, with Usman Khawaja and David Warner being dragged into verbal altercations, eventually leading to both players being pulled away by security.

Khawaja later insisted that abuse aimed at players by the crowds had gone too far, while three members have since had their memberships provisionally suspended pending an investigation.

“Personally, if I am coming to the cricket and watching the cricket, I wouldn’t want my kids to be around that,” Khawaja said after the incident. “If I saw that I would 100 percent make a complaint or just leave. I think some of the stuff can be pretty poor. Over at Edgbaston they were calling Travis Head a c… you know what. I’m like I can’t believe you can actually say that in a public domain anywhere.”

The conflict did not end there, however, with Lyon revealing that tensions continued between both teams in the shared dining room at Lord’s. “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.

“Jonny had a few words here or there. That’s all part of it, I’m all for it,” he told the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast. The offspinner further commented on how “everyone was gobsmacked” at the manner in which the situation escalated, with some fan reactions particularly hitting home.

“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 Lord’s,” Lyon added.

“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 sustained a calf injury in the Test at Lord’s, ruling him out for the rest of the series, which Australia are currently leading 2-1. England head into the crucial fourth Test at Old Trafford knowing they need to win to stand a chance of regaining the Urn for the first time since 2015, while victory for the tourists would wrap up the series ahead of the final Test at the Oval in just over a week’s time.