Nathan Lyon has taken a swipe at England and their stand-in captain Harry Brook for a bizarre comment Brook made following Australia’s 1st ODI victory against England.
The Aussies went up 2-0 in the five-match series overnight with a win at Headingley in the second ODI thanks to a 74 from Alex Carey.
However, Lyon and former England skipper Alistair Cook were critical of Brook’s play and subsequent comments following the first ODI at Trent Bridge two days earlier.
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In that game, England were cruising at 2-213 with 17 overs remaining before being bowled out for 315, with several batsmen cheaply losing their wicket.
Brook was one of those, throwing his wicket away to ruin a quickfire 39.
Following the match, Brook was asked about his team’s discipline, and gave an answer that certainly raised some eyebrows.
“We are out there to score runs. If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field, then who cares?” Brook told BBC before correcting himself slightly.
“Obviously we care, but if you get out trying to score runs that’s the way we want to play.”
England regressed in the second game, bowled out for 202, although it’s fair to say good bowling from the Aussies instead of poor batting was to blame for the lower score.
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Lyon, who is still in Australia in readiness for the upcoming Test series against India, was asked about Brook’s comments on Saturday night.
Lyon did a number of media engagements at the MCG during the prelim final between Brisbane and Geelong to promote the Australia-India series.
“That’s England at the moment isn’t it,” Lyon told ABC Sport when asked about Brook’s comments and England’s batting meltdown in the first ODI.
“It’s hard to fathom — I know if I had his skill level with the bat, I’d be pretty disappointed, but I’m Australian.”
Brook is captaining in place of injured keeper Jos Buttler for the entire ODI series against the Aussies.
A former English skipper and BBC pundit Alistair Cook believes Brook chose the wrong turn of phrase and will likely “cringe” when reflecting on the ‘who cares’ comment.
“I think if he has his time again in a few years time as captain, Harry Brook might cringe a little bit at saying what he actually said,” said Cook.
“He gave a bad answer to a question about not minding being caught on the boundary.
“I understand what he is trying to say. He’s trying to give that message about taking the right option.
“Ultimately, they have to be better at recognising the pitch they are on. They messed up from 200-2 and were not good enough with the bat.”
