Ashes Scout: Loud-mouth Robinson taunts Aussies again - 'surprised they didn't go toe to toe', Ponting's shock England coach reveal

Ollie Robinson has fired another salvo at Australia after the Edgbaston Test, claiming the tourists are on the back foot and unwilling to go toe-to-toe with England.

Robinson continues to paint himself as the chief antagonist in England’s attack, admitting in a column on Thursday he had taken over from Stuart Broad as public enemy No.1 ahead of Wednesday’s Lord’s Test.

The 29-year-old handed Usman Khawaja an expletive-laden send off in the Edgbaston Test, and then doubled down by claiming criticism of him was hypocritical based on the behaviour of ex-Australian players.

He also accused Australia of being too defensive during the first Test and claimed the tourists had three No.11s, a sledge that back-fired when Australia’s lower-order hit them to a two-wicket victory.

But Robinson has now doubled down on his comments, again accusing Australia of being too defensive in a column for Wisden while being adamant it would count against them.

England’s Ollie Robinson celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia’s Usman Khawaja. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

“We were surprised by how defensive Australia were and how unwilling they were to go toe-to-toe with us,” Robinson penned. 

“Obviously it’s worked for them this Test match. But we feel that with the way they’re playing at the moment, a pitch with a bit more movement would benefit us hugely. 

“Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) said it after the game, ‘It feels like we’ve won, lads. We’ve entertained the world, and we’ve put the Aussies on the back foot’.

“For him to say that after a loss is quite significant for us.”

Robinson also stated that Australia would have to change plans through the Ashes and go away from trying to contain England if they are to keep their lead in the series.

“You just don’t see the Australians cautious and on the back foot like that,” Robinson wrote. “As soon as we saw the field for that first over, we felt like we had a hold on them.

“Of course it sounds weird because they won it, but I think if they’re honest, Australia will look at themselves and realise they need to change their approach to keep up with how we’re going to play. 

‘If there’s any movement in the pitch at Lord’s, the way we’re playing compared to them is going to benefit us hugely.”

Robinson said he had also learned his lesson over the Khawaja send off, after being warned over the incident.

“I spoke to Uzzy after as well and we were all good,” Robinson said. “He was just like, “Mate, just be careful what you say.” It was nothing against him and we had a good chat.”

Robinson’s comments come after Matthew Hayden labelled him a “forgettable cricketer” on Thursday, while Ponting said the Englishman would soon learn he would have to back up his talk against Australia.

Ponting’s shock England coach reveal

Australian legend Ricky Ponting has revealed he was contacted by England director of cricket Rob Key about the team’s vacant head coach role, before the job eventually went to Brendon McCullum.

The former New Zealand captain has revolutionised the Test team with his ‘Bazball’ approach, with England’s thrilling loss to Australia just their third in 13 matches since he took over from Chris Silverwood.

Ponting, who has coached the Delhi Capitals in the IPL and has served as an assistant and consultant for the Australian cricket team, told Guerrilla Cricket that he was one of Key’s first picks for the England role.

“I actually got asked before Brendon took the job,” he said.

“I did take some calls from Robert Key as soon as he took over that job. But I’m just not ready for a full-time international coaching job, where I’m at in my life. Having travelled as much as I have, with young kids now I just don’t want to be away as much as I was.

“And even talking to Brendon, his family is only just arriving today. When you’ve got kids that are in school, moving them around, that’s not what I want to do.”

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Smith, Labuschagne to make net gains

Australia’s coaches will not hold Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith back from returning to training early as they work to remedy their first Test issues.

Labuschagne was caught behind twice off Stuart Broad’s outswingers for scores of 0 and 13 in the win at Edgbaston, while Smith also had two failures with scores of 16 and 6.

Combined, it marked the lowest returns between the pair in any Test matches played together.

Australia had initially earmarked Saturday as a rest day for the majority Australia’s main group, after back-to-back Tests against India and England and busy month ahead.

However there is unlikely to be any objection to Labuschagne or Smith batting if they want to, with the pair the longest netters in the Australian team at the best of times.

“There will be no doubt a craving for more net sessions from Marn and Smudge,” coach Andrew McDonald said. “They’re disappointed they missed out in this game, but I think any time the Australian cricket team can win without those two performing at high level is always a positive.

Marnus Labuschagne. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

‘We’ve got some areas we can improve, there’s some growth within the team and there’s two obvious ones.

“It’s very rare that Marn and Smudge miss out in the same Test match. It’s an appetising thought.”

Labuschagne’s dismissals were the more concerning of the pair, given both outs came when he felt for a ball outside off stump off Broad.

Broad had trumpeted his new outswinger in the lead up to the Ashes as one he had designed to dismiss Smith and Labuschagne, with both averaging above 50 in Test cricket.

But McDonald was adamant the pair could rebound.

“I think there’s always a curiosity to get better, so we’re not going to stall that in any way,” McDonald said.

“They’ll come up with different plans, different movements.

“They’ve seen what England are going to do and how they’re going to attack them, and they’re probably two of the greatest problem-solvers we’ve had over a period of time. So you would expect them to go back to the drawing board.

“And Michael di Venuto will be part of that process, and they’ll come out pretty clear what they need to do next innings. But there’s no issue there.”

McDonald was also positive on the form of Warner, who looked good in his second-innings 36 that helped set up Australia’s chase of 281.

“The way that he moved in the second innings with the intent that he had, along with the first innings at The Oval in the World Test Championship Final, anyone watching that would say those movement patterns are good,” McDonald said. 

“The intent that he had, the way that he was going about it is the way we want him to play and put pressure back on to England.”

Zak says England need to attack more at Lord’s

Brendon McCullum has told England’s players to be more aggressive in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, doubling down on the team’s fearless approach.

England’s risky strategy has remained the biggest talking point out of Australia’s thrilling first-Test win at Edgbaston, with Sir Geoffrey Boycott among those critical of it.

Ricky Ponting has also claimed that England threw away control of the match when they declared late on day one at 8-393 after 78 overs and with Joe Root still in.

But there is no doubt in England’s players’ minds about their approach to the match, with opener Zak Crawley revealing McCullum had been clear in his message after the game.

“He even said we should go a bit harder next game,” Crawley told Virgin Radio in the UK.

“Any doubt you had in this game, you take it away. 

Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Ben Stokes. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

“In your head you might think should I do this or take it a bit easy for 10 minutes and not get out . 

“Baz would say you should absolutely do that. He said to me, they put a man on the fence, why didn’t you hit it over him? I didn’t even think about that.”

England have also attempted to maintain that they are not overly disappointed by the loss, with Ollie Pope claiming they were buoyant in the hours after the game.

The No.3 also said not even the prospect of a series whitewash against England would prompt them to change their game.

“The main thing is whenever you see us play, you can almost guarantee the next week there is going to be even more of that positive mindset,” Pope said.

“We could be 4-0 down, and we would go into The Oval Test with the best mindset possible. We want to go and give people a show.”