Darren Lehmann happy to let ICC rule on Ashes sledging

Steve Barrett

Darren Lehmann happy to let ICC rule on Ashes sledging image

Following Australia captain Michael Clarke's ugly exchange with England tailender Jimmy Anderson in the dying moments of the first Test at the Gabba - which saw Clarke fined 20 percent of his match fee - the Adelaide contest comprised some heated moments too on the fourth day.

The most notable instances were the prolonged, animated discussion between pace bowling rivals Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Broad and a mid-pitch collision between Johnson and debutant all-rounder Ben Stokes.

MORE: Michael Clarke: Hard work paying off in Ashes series | England hurting 'like hell', says Alastair Cook

Johnson and Stokes were charged by the ICC for making physical contact, but both men were exonerated by match referee Jeff Crowe after a hearing soon after play.

Lehmann, a fair but hard-nosed professional during his long playing career, believes it is solely up to the administrators to make judgement calls on on-field incidents.

"If they (ICC) deal with it, they'll deal with it," Lehmann said when asked if he was aware of any action being taken by the ICC, prior to Cricket Australia's press release which stated the charges.

"At the end of the day if something happens, the ICC deals with it.

"That's the line we're always going to say and that's what happens.

"The game of cricket is a tough game - Test match cricket is tough."

Lehmann is buoyed by Australia's 2-0 series lead and irresistible momentum, which he believes had its origins in the second Test of the northern Ashes series earlier this year at Lord's which served as a line-in-the-sand moment as the Aussies succumbed to England by a shopping 347 runs en route to a 3-0 series defeat.

"I think we started the turnaround after Lord's, to be perfectly honest," said Lehmann, who replaced Mickey Arthur as national coach only weeks out from that series.

"It helps when you win the games.

"At the end of the day, in England we still lost 3-0.

"It would have been nice not to have (bad) weather but we can't look back on those sort of things.

"We probably should have won one or two Test matches there.

"Once you start to win games, it makes it a lot easier for the guys to realise what they're doing and understand where you're going.

"The consistency is there over the first two Test matches.

"We're starting to bat a lot better and bowl a lot better."

Australia look set to take an unchanged 12-man squad into the third Test at the WACA Ground, where England have a dismal record with just a single win (in 1978) and eight losses in 12 previous Tests.

But the home side, with seamers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Doug Bollinger both in Perth on standby, haven't completely ruled out a late change should a niggle emerge.

"At the moment, all good," Lehmann said when asked if man-of-the-match Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon pulled up fit after the second Test.

"Wait until we get to Perth.

"If they're 100 percent, they'll play; if they're not, they won't. Simple as that."

Steve Barrett