Love what Barmy Army bring to the game...will embrace it...: Australian spinner Murphy
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ustralian spinner Todd Murphy, who is all set to play the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Thursday, said that he is looking to play his first-ever match for Aussies in UK in front of this hostile crowd, adding that he has grown up watching the Ashes and loves what the Barmy Army (England's supporters club) brings to the atmosphere.
In some other world, Murphy would have returned from a two-day sabbatical in Paris and preparing to play for top-placed division two county team Durham in their match against Gloucestershire at Chester-le-Street from next Monday. But the events of the past few weeks, including veteran spinner Nathan Lyon's ruling out from the Ashes due to a calf injury have brought him to the Aussie camp, all set to make his Ashes debut.
Murphy is expected to feature in Australia's starting XI for the third Test starting from Thursday and Lyon will be missing his first game since the Lord's Test in 2013, after a gap of 100 straight Test appearances. He will fly back to Australia for rehabilitation.
Not only Murphy has played a match in any format in the UK, he has not encountered the Headingley crowd, considered to be one of the country's most hostile and partisan ones. The temperature is set to get higher after Jonny Bairstow's controversial run out by Aussie keeper Alex Carey.
Murphy made his Test debut in the cricket-crazy nation of India during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year, but he feels that atmosphere in India will be different in comparison to that of UK.
"I think this might be a bit different to the Indian crowd," Murphy said ahead of Australia's major pre-Test training at Headingley yesterday as quoted by cricket.com.au.
"They made a lot of noise, but they were all quite friendly."
"From speaking to the boys, this is probably the most hostile ground you get in England and I am quite looking forward to it if I do get the opportunity. I have grown up watching Ashes cricket and love what the Barmy Army bring to the game."
"It obviously adds to the atmosphere and adds to an away series, so it is going to be different and I am sure they would not hold back. I will just embrace it and try and have a good time with it," he concluded.
Murphy had earlier planned to gain some experience in testing English conditions by playing for Durham before the Ashes, but that plan was put on hold after he suffered from soreness and needed a break. He decided to play for the county between the third and fourth Tests, a move that needed him to leave the UK to ensure he held an appropriate working visa, but the plan failed to materialise after his scheduled flight was cancelled.
Lyon's injury and his ruling out of the series left Murphy with no scope of planning.
Australia squad for third Test Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
✔️ Love what Barmy Army bring to the game...will embrace it...: Australian spinner Murphy
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