Ashes 2019: Nathan Lyon’s Girlfriend Emma McCarthy Spotted Cheering from Edgbaston Stands on Opening Day of First Test
Emma McCarthy watched from the stands as Nathan Lyon successfully jammed Australia’s wicket-fall to help Steve Smith score a remarkable century on his return to Test cricket. Lyon was on 12 runs from 26 deliveries when Stuart Broad knocked Smith’s stumps to complete a fifer.
Emma McCarthy watched from the stands as Nathan Lyon successfully jammed Australia’s wicket-fall to help Steve Smith score a remarkable century on his return to Test cricket. Lyon was on 12 runs from 26 deliveries when Stuart Broad knocked Smith’s stumps to complete a fifer. And as Smith left the ground with his bat and hands lifted in the air to the applause and cheer from the Edgbaston crowd, Lyon basked in glory too. His new girlfriend McCarthy stood in the stands as did Smith’s wife Dani Willis. Ashes 2019: Steve Smith Surpasses Virat Kohli to Become the Second Fastest Batsman to Score 24 Test Centuries.
Lyon had arrived at the crease after Australia’s entire batting order had wilted to Broad and Chris Woakes’ terrific swing bowling. But the tail stood up with Peter Siddle (44) and Lyon adding 88 and 74 runs with Smith for the final two wickets respectively. Smith registered his 24th Test century becoming the second-fastest to get there. It was also his first in 15 months or so and marked his return to Test cricket for the first time ever since the sandpaper incident in Cape Town in 2018 that led to a year ban for both him and David Warner. Ashes 2019: Adam Gilchrist Calls the Concept of Names and Numbers on Test Jerseys ‘Rubbish’ (See Tweets).
The 31-year-old Aussie spinner came at the crease with Australia still reeling at 210/9 and Smith still 15 runs away from his century. Broad was chasing 100th Ashes wicket, while Woakes was flighting the ball up dangerously. But Lyon relented and assisted as Smith marched off to a wonderful comeback century.
“Sometimes you need your tail to dig in with you,” Smith was full of praise for both Siddle and Lyon. “Everyone gets to bat, so you might as well try and improve it, and to their credit, the bottom four and the bowlers that are on the bench have worked incredibly hard the last couple of weeks to try and find a game plan that works in England.
Try and get their defence in order and playing the ball really late and all those kinds of things. It’s been a big focus, because tail runs can change the course of a game, as we sort of saw today.”
Meanwhile, the Australian cricket board had earlier implemented a WAG ban for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and The Ashes 2019 but things look to different now. Reports had earlier claimed that wives and girlfriends were asked not to travel with the Australian squad during their lengthy stay in England.
Bur according to team manager Gavin Dovey, “The coaching staff and playing group reportedly came to the decision ahead of the World Cup. There are a lot of challenges but what we’ve tried to work out when we think it’s important for the group to be on their own, knuckle down and focus on the task.”
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 02, 2019 01:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).