Australia will ignore England's brash talk, says Nathan Lyon

Australia will IGNORE England’s brash talk ahead of second Ashes Test, says Nathan Lyon… after Zak Crawley predicts victory and Brendon McCullum says first game loss feels like a win

• Australia lead 1-0 in the series after a tense ending to the first Test last week
• England have promised to carry on their aggressive style for the next game
• The second Test kicks off at Lord’s on Wednesday after an eight-day break 

Nathan Lyon has insisted Australia will pay no attention to England’s brash talk in the build-up to Wednesday’s second Ashes Test as the tourists look to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Australia have not won the first two Tests of a series in England since their last victory here in 2001, and after last week’s nailbiting two-wicket win at Edgbaston they turn their sights to their favourite away ground, Lord’s.

The Aussies have won 15 of 37 trips to the home of cricket, losing only seven – by far their best record at any venue on these shores, with their nine wins at Headingley the next best.

England have ramped up the rhetoric again this week with Zak Crawley predicting a 150-run win for the hosts and Ollie Robinson revealing that head coach Brendon McCullum told the players after the Edgbaston defeat that it felt like they had won due to their enterprising style of play.

But Lyon refused to be drawn into a war of words and instead claimed Australia will be even better this week after he and captain Pat Cummins dragged them across the line in Birmingham with an unbeaten 55-run ninth-wicket partnership.

Nathan Lyon insists Australia will pay no attention to England’s talk ahead of the second Test

Lyon helped drag Australia over the line in their first Test victory at Edgbaston

He enjoyed an unbroken partnership of 44 with captain Pat Cummins to steer his side to victory

‘It’s business as usual for us,’ said Lyon. ‘We can’t control what they’re doing, we’ll sit down as a team and we’ve identified the areas we believe we need to get better at.

‘(Edgbaston) was an absolutely incredible Test match and to be a part of that was extremely special. It’s going to go down as one of the best Test matches I’ve ever played in. There’s a lot of hard work that we know we need to do. I know we can still get a lot better and we need to get a lot better if we want to keep competing against England and the brand of cricket they’re playing.’

Lyon’s innings of 16 not out in the dying light at Edgbaston came after a Robinson jibe that he, Scott Boland and Josh Hazlewood were Australia’s ‘three No11s’, and that England should have no trouble knocking them over.

Zak Crawley (lef) predicted England will win the second Test by 150 runs, while head coach Brendon McCullum (right) said the first Test loss felt like a win

England’s Ollie Robinson said Australia have three No11 batters, a statement that Lyon agreed with

And Lyon humbly admitted that he agreed with the England bowler’s assertions.

‘To be honest with you, I am a No11,’ said Lyon, ‘it’s just that Josh won’t let me bat No11. That’s all a bit of banter and I’ve got absolutely no dramas with that.’

At Lord’s Lyon is set to become the first bowler to play 100 consecutive Test matches, and just sixth player in all, while he is just five wickets short of 500 in Tests. And he revealed a distinct sense of pride at the potential double achievement.

‘It’ll be extremely special,’ said Lyon. ‘One hundred consecutive Test matches for anyone is a pretty special feat. I hate talking about myself but that’s one record I’m extremely proud of. Especially being a bowler and No11 batter that you’re able to get that feat done and tick off 100 consecutive games, that’s something that I’ll be extremely proud of when it happens and more importantly when my career is done.’

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