Australia’s Lyon urges calm in face of ‘Bazball’

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon believes the ‘Bazball’ style of play only works if the opposition panics and has urged his team mates to remain calm in the face of England’s aggressive batting in the upcoming Ashes series.England have won 10 of their last 12 Tests since captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum took over and introduced the high-risk, high-reward style of play."You look at the way they played against New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan, they have been able to force the opposition into panicking,” Lyon told Australian Associated Press (AAP)."We just have to worry about us. Control what we can control and worry about what is in our backyard and not be worried about what they’re doing."If we make sure we have really good plans and stick to them, everything will go okay.” The 35-year-old said Australia needed to focus on executing their own gameplan and avoid the kind of batting collapses that marred their tour of India earlier this year."We shouldn’t panic anyway,” Lyon said. "We panicked in India and we saw what happened. If we can learn from that experience and play our way and our brand it will be okay.”Lyon said he was not interested in pre-series chatter about England arranging flatter pitches or shorter boundaries or changing their approach to counter Australia."We have to worry about us,” he added. "We will be really well planned ... I think we will be in really good shape. We’re not buying into the fact they have to do it against Australian bowlers. We just keep nailing our process and worrying about us.”Lyon has played in the last six Ashes series, winning three and drawing one. Australia’s bid to retain the urn for the fourth straight series begins at Edgbaston on June 16.Australian Test summer to start later than usualPerth Stadium will host Australia’s first Test of the 2023-24 summer in mid-December against Pakistan in one of the latest starts to their home season in decades, the schedule unveiled Monday showed.Pat Cummins’ team will play Babar Azam’s side in three Tests starting in Western Australia on December 14, followed by the traditional Boxing Day clash in Melbourne and then Sydney to kick off a new cycle of the World Test Championship.They then meet the West Indies - for the second time in as many summers - in Adelaide from January 17 before Brisbane’s Gabba hosts the Caribbean side in the only day-night Test from January 25.The complete schedules were released by CA on Sunday.Brisbane and Adelaide usually host Tests in November-December.According to Cricket Australia, it will be the latest start to a men’s Test summer of five or more matches since the Ashes that began at the Sydney Cricket Ground on December 19, 1924.The new-look schedule is down to Australia remaining in India for a bilateral white-ball series after the one-day World Cup that will be held in October-November.Following the Tests, they will meet the West Indies in three one-dayers and three T20s throughout February, with Canberra and Hobart among the venues."Cricket provides the sights and sounds of the summer and brings Australians together like no other sport and we can’t wait to welcome fans to watch world class cricket next season,” Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley said.Australia’s world champion women’s team, led by Meg Lanning, will bookend the international season, starting with a T20 and ODI series against the West Indies in October.This will be followed by a multi-format series against South Africa, including their first-ever Test from February 15-18 at the WACA Ground in Perth.