Ollie Robinson is English cricket’s biggest enigma who could make an unlikely Test comeback | Ali Martin
Pop quiz: in the last five years, who is the only England seamer to have sent down 50 overs in a Test match more than once?The answer, if the headline and picture haven’t given the game away, is a certain Ollie Robinson.Yep, the same seamer who has been overlooked by England since February 2024 on account of not being fit enough for the demands of the job.Robinson bent his back for 51 overs against Australia at Lord’s in 2023 and bowled 50 there in his third Test two years earlier.Against India at the Oval in 2021 he summoned up 49.3 overs, while his most impressive feat of stamina was probably Rawalpindi in late 2022: 43 overs, five for 122, as England squeezed out a remarkable last-gasp win on a pitch practically made of asphalt.
His Test numbers are well known but worth repeating all the same.In 20 outings Robinson has nipped out 76 wickets at just shy of 23 runs apiece.Accurate, blessed with height, and able to move the ball lavishly thanks to a sublime wrist position, there is so much to like, so much to suggest the baton was his to grasp after Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad retired.None of which is to say England’s cold-shouldering of Robinson these past two years has necessarily been wrong.Because for all the evidence that he can get through a Test match and is a quality bowler when operating at his optimum pace, the 32-year-old is possibly the biggest enigma in the English game.
It wasn’t simply that grisly one-off Test against India in Ranchi two years ago, when Robinson tweaked a muscle in his back while batting, bowled mid-70s mph, and grassed a catch that might otherwise have sent the series to a decider in Dharamshala (rather than the 4-1 defeat that resulted).In the wash-up from that loss, England told Robinson they would no longer be limiting his overs for Sussex and it was incumbent on him to bowl as much as he possibly could.He himself said in an interview it was a “make or break summer” – only to then sit out the second game of the season for a rest.This mini-break went down badly, not least after declining a few laps of the outfield with one of the fitness coaches at the end of the India tour.Robinson’s conditioning and durability had long been a subject of debate, having walked off the field with back spasms during three of his previous Tests.
Two of those mid-game disappearances led to defeats in Australia during the doomed Covid Ashes of 2021-22 – and a public rebuke from Jon Lewis, then bowling coach.Mark Wood’s pace, and the wizardry of Chris Woakes, ensured his tapping out midway through the Headingley Test in 2023 was not as telling.But this summer, something of a thaw may be taking place.No longer centrally contracted and now captaining Sussex, Robinson has revealed that both Rob Key and Brendon McCullum have been in touch with words of encouragement about a possible recall.The door he thought shut is now ajar.
The reason for England’s renewed interest is not hard to understand.During the Ashes defeat in Australia they were badly lacking any control with the new ball – never more so than on the second day in Brisbane, when they lost the plot and shipped 121 runs in just 21 overs, handing the initiative to the hosts.Jofra Archer had his moments, Gus Atkinson less so.Injuries to both eventually saw Brydon Carse tasked with performing the role during the last three Tests, only to spray it around and leak runs.There is plenty to admire about the ever-willing Carse but he would probably admit he is not a new-ball bowler.
Instead, when fit again, Carse should be one of a number of options at first change.Josh Tongue was a rare bright spark during the Ashes and will surely start as first choice, while his Notts colleague Olly Stone delivered a nudge of his own last week with five wickets of fast outswing.Though raw, the zippy Sonny Baker has also started the season well (despite Hampshire doing the exact opposite).But even with Archer such a prized asset, and Atkinson’s record excellent before Australia, the role of an English-style new-ball specialist does feel up for grabs when plans are drawn up for the first Test against New Zealand in June.Sitting on 11 wickets at 29, having started with a five-fer against Leicestershire but taken one for 99 most recently at Surrey, Robinson is yet to make a truly unassailable case (even if his century at the Oval was a handy reminder of his batting talent).
Sam Cook, just one cap last summer but a bowler who does all the right things, is another who should be in the conversation here.Robinson has said in interviews that he is unaware of any issues England had with him, which has surprised a few internally given the number of appraisals and ultimatums along the way.But at the same time he believes he has turned a corner.His life is more settled off the field and captaining Sussex was his idea.He added: “I think I am training a bit harder and I feel more ready now than when I got into the England team in the first place.
I have grown up a bit as well.”Problem is, this is not the first time in the last two years that Robinson has said words along these lines.The question now is whether England believe him.
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