England’s crumbling Ashes campaign has not won any sympathy from the Australian camp as both coach and players declare that the tourists won’t be shown any mercy.
The English were dealt another blow over the weekend when spinner Graeme Swann announced his immediate, and shocking, retirement on top of a 3-0 series hole.
Spinner Nathan Lyon congratulated Swann on his 60-Test, 255-wicket career, calling him “one of the best off-spinners” he’d ever seen, but was quick to announce that no one from the Australian side would be taking their foot off the pedal after having already clinched the series in the opening three matches.
“We want to go 5-0,” he said in Melbourne on Monday.
“We haven’t focused on them one bit in the lead up to every other Test match, we’re worried about what we can control and that’s in our change room.
“We’re not worried about what the English are doing and we just can’t wait to start preparing for the Melbourne Test here.”
Swann’s parting words, announced in a press conference Sunday, have rubbed just about everyone the wrong way.
The UK Telegraph published comments made by Swann to a reporter, allegedly off the record, about the state of the current English Test side, angering many in the process.
A 34-year-old took to Twitter to bash the professionalism of the journalist in question, but did not deny comments that took a swipe at some of his former teammates.
“Some people playing the game at the minute have no idea how far up their own backsides they are and it will bite them on the arse one day and when it does I hope they look back and are embarrassed about how they carry on. No names,” reported The UK Telegraph.
The Aussies won’t let up on the pressure in Melbourne according to coach Darren Lehmann.
Having turned around a 3-0 series loss to England mid-year, Australia still has a lot to prove as they look to move up the international standings.
“I’ll probably have to remind (to remain focused) them a little bit but the players are switched on, as is everyone involved,” Lehmann said.
“We know we’ve got a long way to go to get to where we want to as a cricket side and we’ll have no problems getting up for this game.
“The message (I’ll give the team) is that we want to win the first session on the first day and worry about it from there. We live in the present and you can’t look too far ahead.
“At the moment we are playing some good cricket but we certainly have some improvement to do.”
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