Lyon adamant Ashes jeers just 'white noise'
Australia will win their first Ashes series in England for 18 years if they avoid defeat at the Oval
MANCHESTER (AFP) - Nathan Lyon has insisted crowd taunts had no effect as he bounced back from the disappointment of a major error to help Australia retain the Ashes.
The off-spinner, a key figure in Australia s 251-run win in the first Test at Edgbaston, found himself routinely mocked on social media and in person after he missed a chance to run out last man Jack Leach before England completed a dramatic one-wicket victory in the third Test at Headingley.
That result left the Ashes all square at 1-1, with Lyon on the receiving end of ironic cheers every time he gathered the ball cleanly during the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
But Australia s 185-run success in Manchester completed Sunday meant they kept hold of the Ashes at 2-1 up in a five-Test series ahead of this week s finale at the Oval in south London.
The 31-year-old Lyon did not seem that impressed with the taunts at the time but, speaking to travelling Australian media, he said: "To be honest with you, you hear it for the first over or two then it just becomes white noise.
"When you re a professional sportsman, your job is to come out and bowl well, and compete against whoever you re playing," added Lyon, Australia s third-most successful all-time Test bowler with 359 wickets in 90 matches.
"I didn t really feel it or hear it at the back end so it doesn t worry me."
Australia will win their first Ashes series in England for 18 years if they avoid defeat at the Oval, with Lyon saying: "Right now, it probably hasn t sunk in, but as a kid growing up, and as soon as I got my Baggy Green (Australian cap), the biggest goal in my career has been to win the Ashes away.
"We re 2-1 up and I want to go 3-1 up, and when we hold the urn up at The Oval it s going to be an amazing feeling."
