Nathan Lyon has revealed he was forced to intervene on crutches to cool tensions between England and Australia players in the aftermath of Jonny Bairstow's controversial Lord's dismissal.
Bairstow was stumped by Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey while dawdling out of his crease during the Second Test, the England batter wrongly assuming that the ball had been called dead. The incident prompted a huge backlash, with Australia booed off at lunch and heckled by MCC members as they passed through the Long Room.
Lyon was off the field, having suffered the calf strain that has since ruled him out of the series, but revealed that hostilities spilled over into the players' dining area at the ground.
"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 told the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast. "Jonny had a few words here or there. That's all part of it, I'm all for it."
The MCC subsequently suspended three members pending an investigation and issued a formal apology to Australia's players over the Long Room confrontation.
"The emotions in the room were quite remarkable," Lyon added. "Everyone was gobsmacked but found it 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."
Lyon suffered his calf injury while fielding in England's first innings at Lord's, but while the 35-year-old bravely hobbled out to bat later in the game, he knew his tour was over instantly.
"[Ben] Duckett played the pull shot, got a top edge and I went to take off and I just heard this little gun shot and just felt it go straight away. I knew straight away my series was done there and then," he said.
The timing of Lyon's injury had prompted concern that he could even be forced into retirement, but the 35-year-old spinner — who is just four wickets away from a Test career landmark 500 — said he hopes to be fit for December's home series against Pakistan.
