Nathan Lyon talks of England's Ashes scars but Australia are doing themselves damage

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  • Lyon hasn't been afraid to fire a few shots.

    Read any interview with an Australia player, past or present, and see how long it takes before you encounter the word ‘scar’.

    It’s as if they have all been ordered to drop the nasty little syllable into conversation at every chance they get. Both Justin Langer and Josh Hazlewood urged the now-injured Nathan Coulter-Nile to pick open old wounds in the first tour game. Skipper Steve Smith has also used scar-laden rhetoric and Nathan Lyon is the latest to have spewed out his fair share of word vomit.

    This is what the Australians have done for time immemorial, of course, and England will not have expected anything less. ‘Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Thomson don’t get ya, Lillee must’, so a cartoon caption went during the 1974-75 series.

    And you’ve got to hand it to them – when they do launch full-on verbal war, most of the time there is ample reason for a nation to be so bullish. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson were arrogant so-and-sos but they matched the talking with walking.

    This Australia team? Well, not so much, and if you shove all those words aside you may find a few scars of their own festering underneath.

    They have won just one of their last five Test series and that was earlier this year against a Pakistan side who proceeded to get flayed to all parts in the UAE by an underwhelming Sri Lanka.

    The last true test they had at home was against South Africa – who England beat handsomely earlier this summer – and their sole success in that 2-1 series came after the visitors had already wrapped up the series.

    One of the stars of that particular show on wickets that supposedly only yield success to pacey, bouncy bowlers was the breezy seaming of Vernon Philander.

    Short memories exist Down Under. One newspaper claims that Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Hazlewood are the best pace attack that Australia has ever known. The speed of Starc and Cummins married to the bounce and accuracy of Hazlewood? England will never have seen the like.

    In fact, no one has seen the like. The trio are yet to play a Test together and some are already shoving Thomson and Lillee, McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie aside in the Baggy Green pantheon.

    It’s of no surprise to anyone who has ever come across Australia’s sporting psyche but boy, have they banked on their horses to prove themselves as thoroughbreds.

    None of them have played in an Ashes series at home before and lest we forget that Johnson’s first experience was a mightily chastening one before he atoned for his errors.

    Their domination, though, has been hyped up without scrutiny. Even some of the travelling media are taking it as given that the combination will be more effective than a Jimmy Anderson-Stuart Broad tandem – a tandem that has produced 894 Test wickets.

    So when Lyon talked of scaring, fearing, picking those scabs and ending careers, he may have felt like he was lobbing grenades but they may end up doing their worst damage as friendly fire.

    Just imagine if this Australia side, by no means vintage one even if you buy into the pace demons chatter, trudge out of the Gabba next week having failed to chalk up the victory. All that bravado and bluster will be launched right back at them by the poms and a local media that equally has no trouble kicking their would-be heroes while they are down.

    It’s would be, will be, shall be with Australia. One hopes they kept the receipt for that crystal ball.

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