Batsman Usman Khawaja has expressed his disappointment after Australian players were confronted by ugly scenes while heading to lunch through the long room at the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Video shows Lord’s club members yelling “cheats” and booing loudly as the Australians walked through after the controversial dismissal of England’s Jonny Bairstow on the final day of the second Ashes Test.

The abuse reportedly included several expletives and calling players a “disgrace”, “liars” and telling them to return home.

That prompted both Khawaja and David Warner to stop and approach one man, before two stewards stepped between the members and ushered Warner away.

The drama is understood to have continued up the stairs and out of camera shot before players ate lunch.

Sources in the pavilion said at least one person stuck their foot out to trip Warner and Steve Smith as they walked up the stairs towards lunch.

Warner, in particular, was left to force his way through the crowd, which was described as intimidating and akin to a London Tube at 5pm on a Friday.

The situation became so serious that MCC CEO Guy Lavender came down to speak to the members at lunch to remind them to respect players. The club has since suspended three of its members.

Khawaja said afterwards he felt compelled to act.

“It was very disappointing. If anyone asked me where the best place is to play, I always say Lord’s; the crowd is great, particularly the members are great,” he told the Nine Network.

“But some of the stuff that was coming out of the members’ mouths was really disappointing and I wasn’t just going to stand by and cop it.

“I just talked to a few of them, a few of them [were] throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it and they kept going.”

The MCC was still gathering full details from inside the Pavilion by late on Sunday (local time).

It confirmed three people had had memberships suspended. There is no suggestion that trio was involved in the physical contact with players.

“MCC can confirm it has suspended three members identified from earlier today,” it said in a statement.

“They will not be permitted back to Lord’s whilst the investigation takes place.

“We maintain that the behaviour of a small number of members was completely unacceptable.

“Whilst there was no suggestion by Pat Cummins in the post-match press conference that there was any physical altercation, it remains wholly unacceptable to behave in such a way, which goes against the values of the club.

“MCC condemns the behaviour witnessed and once again we reiterate our apology to Cricket Australia.”

Earlier, Australia requested a please explain from the Marylebone Cricket Club.

“Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.

“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area.”

The MCC issued a formal apology for the incident.

“The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special,” an MCC spokesperson said.

“After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of members.

“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian Team and will deal with any member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes.

“It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session.”

The controversy erupted on a drama-charged last day at Lord’s.

Australia’s players were continuously jeered by local fans after Alex Carey stumped Jonny Bairstow when he walked out of his crease.

England players were also clearly furious about the dismissal, with captain Ben Stokes approaching Australia’s team huddle to speak with his counterpart Pat Cummins.

Australia victory

The drama came as Australia was within touching distance of its first Ashes series win in England in 22 years after denying Stokes a Lord’s miracle and claiming a 43-run victory.

With England 5-193 in pursuit of 371 for victory, Bairstow (10) walked out of his crease almost immediately after ducking the last ball of a Cameron Green over.

Alex Carey threw the ball back at the stumps and dismissed the star England batter, prompting immediate fury from both the Lord’s crowd and home team.

Asked whether there was any bad blood between the two teams, Cummins said: “Not from our team; you might have to ask them. It was a wonderful contest. It’s been a great Ashes series so far.”

Defending the Bairstow dismissal, he added: “No regrets. I think it’s a rare dismissal. There was nothing untoward or sneaky.

“Jonny was leaving his crease every ball. He did it four or five balls. You’re meant to stay in your crease in cricket. Bairstow has tried it with a lot of our guys.

“There was no pause, catch it, straight away have a throw at the stumps. I thought it was totally fair play; that’s how the rule is.”

But Stokes suggested: “If the shoe was on the other foot, I would have had a think about the whole spirit of the game. But it has happened. It was out. We have to move on.”

Tweet from @CricCrazyJohns

The drama clearly acted only to fire up the England captain out in the middle, as he threatened to pull off a repeat of his Headingley heroics from 2019.

Stokes produced a blazing 155, hit an Ashes record nine sixes and dominated a 108-run seventh-wicket stand with Stuart Broad to give the hosts a hope.

Stokes hit 46 from the first 21 balls after the drama, and regularly held onto the strike as the runs required continued to drop in fours and sixes.
And, as at Headingley four years ago, Australia also fell victim to the chaos.

Cummins dropped a very tough caught-and-bowled chance when Stokes whacked a ball back at him on 77.

Then Steve Smith and Carey both put Stokes down on 114, no doubt bringing back more reminders of Headingley 2019 and England’s one-wicket victory.

With 70 more runs needed for victory, the pressure eventually told for Stokes.

Australia was able to slow down his scoring, and when he skied a short Josh Hazlewood ball, England’s chances were crushed and the tail fell soon afterwards.

Hazlewood ended up with three wickets in the win after also having Ben Duckett well caught by Carey on 83 earlier in the morning, while Cummins took 3-69 and Mitchell Starc 3-79.

Notable too was the fact Australia was able to claim the final-day victory without injured spinner Nathan Lyon, who is likely to be replaced by Todd Murphy for the third Test at Headingley on Thursday.

-AAP