Nathan Lyon whacks England over Ashes controversies, including Bairstow dismissal, Lord’s reception and what the Aussie spinner REALLY thinks about Bazball: ‘It’s a load of s***’

• Spinner played the first two Tests 
• Is returning from injury for Aussie summer 
• Had plenty to say about Ashes dramas 

The 2023 Ashes series in England was drenched in controversy, now Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon has given his views on some of the biggest dramas – and he didn’t hold back.

Lyon played the first two Tests of The Ashes series before being ruled out of the rest of the series with a calf injury.

Since then, he has become a new father and is preparing for the summer of Test cricket against Pakistan and the West Indies. 

He appeared on Channel 7 show The Front Bar, hosted by comedian Mick Molloy, where he was asked a series of questions about the heated Ashes series that finished 2-2, allowing Australia to retain the urn. 

Lyon has overcome his calf injury and back playing cricket in the Sheffield Shield, but he still has plenty to say to England after a fiery Ashes series

Nathan Lyon is now a proud father, pictured at Sydney Airport heading off to Western Australia

And Lyon came out swinging, having a dig at controversial English media personality Piers Morgan’s claims that England were the ‘moral’ winners of The Ashes.

‘At the start of the year, if you said that we would win the World Test Championship, retain The Ashes and then the boys would go on to win the World Cup, I think everybody would have jumped at that opportunity,’ he said.

‘It’s unfortunate that England morally won.’

His comment had the panel in stitches, with Molloy replying: ‘You can’t drink from the moral victory cup though, can you?’

Lyon saved his best roasting for Bazball, though, the brand of cricket concocted by English coach Brendon MacCallum and skipper Ben Stokes to breathe life into the sport with aggressive batting and bold declarations. 

‘I’m 2-0 against Bazball so I am happy,’ Lyon chuckled.

‘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.’

Front Bar host Mick Molloy responded: ‘It’s in the dictionary between the Hindenberg and the Titanic’.

Jonny Bairstow was not impressed with the stumping that led to his wicket in the second Ashes Test at Lords

Lyon bats on one leg in the second Ashes Test at Lords after injuring his calf in the match, ruling him out for the rest of the series

Lyon also had no sympathy for Jonny Bairstow, the English wicketkeeper who was sensationally run out thinking that the over was complete and the ball was dead.

It was a crucial turning point in the second Test that led to a famous Australian victory, but had plenty of English players and supporters baying their disapproval. 

‘I love it.,’ Lyon said when asked about the Ashes ‘hoo-ha’.

‘It’s quite simple. Stay in your crease and you won’t get out. But I was in the change rooms on my crutches watches and I think I celebrated more than anyone. It was pretty amazing. But I’ve never seen a crowd react like that after anything.’

The offspinner also spoke about the dramatic scenes in the Lord’s Long Room where members booed and hissed at the Australian players as they returned to their sheds.

That led to confrontations between Aussie players David Warner and Usman Khawaja and members in ugly scenes that saw two Lord’s members temporarily stripped of their privileges and a third banned for life.

Australian Test batsman Usman Khawaja clashes with Lord’s members in heated scenes following the controversial Jonny Bairstow dismissal

Lyon said the players never thought they were in any real danger, though. 

‘We all found it pretty funny,’ Lyon said.

‘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.’

And Lyon confirmed that the English players did snub an invitation to join the Aussies for traditional post-Ashes beers in their sheds. 

‘Normally after an Ashes series you have a beer or a couple and talk about the series but unfortunately England didn’t really respond to Pat’s text messages to come in which is pretty disappointing in the big scheme of things,’ he said. 

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