Paine Urges Lyon To Move On

Australia captain Tim Paine has urged Nathan Lyon to move on quickly from his error during Australia’s defeat to England at Headingley.

The Aussies appeared to be in pole position to take a 2-0 lead in the series that would have been enough to see them retain the Ashes, as they had England at 286-9 on Sunday, with the hosts needing to reach 359 to claim what seemed an unlikely victory.

However, an unbeaten knock of 135 from Ben Stokes helped seal one of the most dramatic Test wins in Ashes history, as England levelled the series at 1-1 and made sure everything is still to play for ahead of the final two Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval.

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It could have been so different for Australia, however, as they had an opportunity to run-out Stokes’ batting partner Jack Leach at the non-striker’s end, but Lyon fluffed his lines and handed England what proved a costly reprieve.

The off-spinner will now be looking to move on from the error and his skipper believes, if he can bounce back quickly, then it will be a good example to rest of the group, as they look to turn their focus to next week’s fourth Test at Old Trafford.

“He’s a really important player in our side and I said to him that if our players see him dealing with it really quickly and moving on then our younger players are going to do the same,” Paine said.

“We then turn up to Manchester or our next training session in a much better frame of mind rather than have guys sulking or whatever you want to call it. It hurts, deal with it, move on.”