Nathan Lyon and the rest of the Australian unit were left "absolutely devasted" in the dressing room after suffering a heartbreaking loss in the third Ashes Test against England at Headingley, disclosed Aussie pace legend Glenn Mcgrath.
Lyon, especially, as he fumbled while receiving an easy throw which if collected fine could well have ended the rearguard tenth-wicket partnership between three lions' hero Ben Stokes and his defiant partner Jake Leach when the home team needed a further 2 runs to breach the one impregnable 359-run target.
Australia once looked set to retain the Ashes on the back of a 2-0 scoreline before Stokes' legendary 135* turned the whole thing around and paved way for a series-levelling win.
Though, one can't help but feel the Aussies should still have won if not for some genuine errors in the heat of the battle. Like skipper Tim Paine wasting the only review left against Leach when the ball was clearly pitching outside leg, only to have none up his sleeves to overturn the plumb chance off Stokes that wasn't given by umpire Joel Wilson.
"I saw Nathan Lyon after the game and you just think this game can be so cruel sometimes. Then you look at Ben Stokes and you think the total opposite. But, yeah, it’s the way it goes," Mcgrath said on BBC Radio 5.
"I thought I’d pop into the changing rooms afterwards – everyone goes in when you have a win but when you have a loss everyone stays clear. But I just thought I would pop in and say, 'Well done, bad luck'. Sometimes it’s a tough sport."
"They were devastated, absolutely devastated and none more so than Nathan Lyon. He would have taken that 99 times out of 100 but pressure does funny things."
McGrath further said: "I was sitting in that dressing room and I’ve been in that situation a couple of times – not quite as harsh as that – and I just think I hope these boys remember this moment, how bad it feels and it motivates you to do whatever you can not to get in this situation again so hopefully the boys will remember it."
"A few of the guys were saying, 'Just try not to remember it, let’s move on. But no, they need that moment. Use it as motivation for the rest of their career let alone the next Test match."
(Inputs from BBC Radio 5)
