‘Aussies adults, don’t need curfew’ Lyon challenges England batsmen to go after him in Adelaide Test
ADELAIDE: Australian coach Darren Lehmann says he can’t envisage ever slapping a curfew on his players, who were “grown men”, after England opted to ban their team being out after midnight.
The England decision followed Jonny Bairstow’s headbutt on Australian opener Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar late last month, which only came to light over the weekend.
It came with sensitivity within the England camp about off-field behaviour after the controversy surrounding suspended star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is facing a police inquiry into a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in September.
Lehmann said it was not something he would consider.
“We wouldn’t have curfews but that’s our decision and that (having them) is theirs,” he told reporters in Adelaide late Tuesday ahead of the second Test starting Saturday.
“We have faith in the blokes to do the right thing. They’re grown men, they’re adults.”
Former Australian captain and selector Greg Chappell suggested curfews were ineffective.
“If someone is determined to get out and do silly things they’re probably going to do it whether there’s a curfew or not,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN. “Curfews are pretty useless really. If you treat people like adults, most of them will behave like adults. Those who don’t probably don’t last very long.”
England cricket chief Andrew Strauss was cited by cricket.com.au on Tuesday as saying there was no drinking culture in his team, but he imposed a midnight curfew on the five-test Ashes tour regardless.
In laying down the law after the Bairstow incident, he said his players “need to be smarter”.
“That’s the reality, they are adults, intelligent adults, and at times they are not using that intelligence in the right way,” he said.
“It is a distraction to the team and none of us want that distraction.”
Despite the Stokes controversy and the Bairstow incident, Strauss insisted the team were “good, honest, hardworking cricketers”. MELBOURNE: Australia spinner Nathan Lyon threw down the gauntlet to England’s batsmen on Wednesday, challenging them to hit him out of the attack at Adelaide Oval in the second Ashes Test.
The 30-year-old has returned to his former home ground in top form ahead of the Test, which starts on Saturday, after taking five wickets in Australia’s easy win at the Gabba.
Lyon took on a big workload in the series-opener but bowled with impressive economy, conceding less than 2.5 runs an over to stifle the tourists’ scoring.
With none of England’s batsmen taking the attack to the offspinner at the Gabba, Lyon invited them to go on the offensive at Adelaide Oval, where he helped bowl Australia to victory against South Africa a year ago.
We wouldn’t have curfews but that’s our decision ... We have faith in the blokes to do the right thing. They’re grown men, they’re adults.
UP FOR CHALLENGE
“I think if they did do that, it does definitely play into my hands,” Lyon told reporters at the stadium.
“I like it when opposition guys try to attack me and try to whack me out of the attack.
“But it’s a part of the game ... No doubt England will come prepared and they’ll have a different plan for me compared to what they had in the first Test. But it is what it is.
“It’s about adapting, it’s about enjoying the challenge and embracing the game of cricket.”
Lyon was criticised in the lead-up to the Gabba test for saying he hoped Australia could end careers during the Ashes series, including that of his former club team mate and England captain Joe Root.
The plain spoken off-spinner was more generous on Wednesday, saying Root’s team were a “classy” side and that the Yorkshireman’s bowlers would be favoured by the conditions in the first day-night Ashes Test, starting Saturday.