Pat Cummins says he shares blame with Nathan Lyon for run-out blunder

In a sign that the heartbreaking Headingley loss has drawn the Australian team closer together rather than fractured them, Pat Cummins has claimed Nathan Lyon’s decisive run-out fumble was not his error alone.

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Pat Cummins has blamed his wide throw for hurting Nathan Lyon’s chances of completing the easiest of run outs that would’ve secured Australia’s first Ashes victory on English soil in 18 years.

In the most dramatic moment of one of the greatest Test matches ever played, Cummins and Lyon had a golden opportunity to dismiss Jack Leach with Australia leading the match by one run.

The tailender bizarrely took off, thinking hero Ben Stokes wanted a suicide single, but a sleep-deprived Lyon fumbled the ball and Leach safely returned before he and Stokes levelled the series at 1-1 the next over.

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Nathan Lyon missed a straightforward run out chance that would have handed Australia the Ashes.

“I probably didn’t help (Lyon) out with the throw there, it could have been a bit better,” a modest Cummins said.

“But you just want to win so desperately and the emotion gets to everyone slightly differently. Gaz (Lyon) obviously wears his heart on his shoulder so we’ve got to get around him.”

Lyon should’ve gone from zero to hero seconds later, when he trapped Stokes plumb lbw the following ball, but umpire Joel Wilson rejected the appeal and captain Tim Paine had burnt his last review the previous over.

Lyon had the chance to stoke memories of when Australia ran out South African Alan Donald down the road at Edgbaston to reach the 1999 World Cup final.

Lyon was visibly crestfallen after the missed run out and then trapping Ben Stokes lbw but seeing his appeal denied.

Paine and David Warner leapt into the air as Cummins threw the ball to Lyon, believing they were certain to retain the Ashes with a one-run victory.

A dumbfounded Stokes joked later that Leach ran so far down the pitch “we could’ve had a conversation”, but the all-rounder stayed composed and slashed a boundary off Cummins the next over to keep England in the series.

Cummins – who will sit out Steve Smith’s return in Thursday’s tour match against Derbyshire – also turned the blowtorch on his own batting.

The quasi allrounder made a duck and six in the Leeds epic and is yet to reach 30 runs after 21 innings for Australia across all formats in 2019.

White-ball captain Aaron Finch admitted that Cummins had lost confidence in his batting during the World Cup, where the talented tailender was dismissed in single digits in seven out of eight innings.

Cummins, who is No. 1 on the Cricket Australia contract list, conceded 0/72 from his final 21.1 overs, with the final spells bowled to spread fields with Stokes looking invincible on a pitch getting easier to bat on.

Pat Cummins’ batting returns in the UK have been poor for a player of his technical quality.

Paine marched into Australia’s dressing room straight after the heartbreaking one-wicket loss and urged his players to stay positive, given they have been in winning positions in all three Tests.

“I’m feeling really good actually,” Cummins said after playing 10 World Cup games and three Tests since arriving in England in May.

“If you’d asked me that a few months ago I would have thought I’d be a bit more tired and run down than I’m feeling, so I’ll have a bit of a break after this and be right for Manchester then see how we go.”

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Smith – who was screaming at the TV in the hotel while watching the final day of the Lord’s Test after his concussion – is certain to bat alongside Marnus Labuschagne at Old Trafford.

But Mitchell Starc remains no certainty to feature in this Ashes series with Peter Siddle a greater chance of returning to the attack for the fourth Test.

Cummins admitted the Aussies were too emotional when they had England on the ropes at Lord’s, but praised their equilibrium at Leeds after bowling Joe Root’s team out for 67 and then losing just two days later.