Legendary Australia spinner Shane Warne has lambasted former England player Matt Prior for mocking Nathan Lyon in the aftermath of the heart-stopping third Ashes Test at Headingley.

Ben Stokes played an extraordinary knock of 135* that allowed England to level the Ashes 1-1 after a remarkable day's play in Leeds on Sunday (August 25).

Stokes' innings, which many have hailed as the greatest ever in 142 years of Test history, scripted three lions’ success in the run-chase of 359 against a potent Aussie attack with only one wicket left in hand.

Minutes before Stokes hit the winning boundary off Pat Cummins, England had two lucky breaks. The first came when non-striker Jack Leach survived an easy run-out chance as Aussie off-spinner Nathan Lyon fumbled a throw to the bowler’s end. In the very next delivery, Lyon struck Stokes on the pad but his appeal for leg before wicket was rejected by umpire Joel Wilson.

After the match, Prior took a jibe at Lyon on Twitter with his hashtag “#mothercricket” – a reference to the game coming back to bite you. But his comments didn’t go down well with Warne, who called out the ex-English wicketkeeper for his “stupid comments”.

“Excuse me? Just because Lyon knocked you over for fun, there’s still no need for that kind of silly and immature behaviour. Grow up, and enough of those stupid comments. Let’s celebrate the wonderful game of test cricket & the Ashes please!” Warne replied.

The Spin King also slammed former England cricketer Chris Adams, who featured in five Tests and five one-day internationals, when he replied to a tweet from Prior agreeing that Aussies are happy to dish out trash talk but can’t take it.

“Chris, you were nothing but a club cricketer ! So don’t even bore us with your dribble as no one is interested or cares in what you have to say ! Pipe down.....” Warne wrote.

The fourth Ashes Test will be played in Manchester from September 4.