Having claimed the title of England’s chief protagonist in this series, England seamer Ollie Robinson has made the surprise admission by saying he could understand Australia’s stance on Jonny Bairstow’s stumping at Lord’s.
Routinely described as against the spirit of cricket by most England players for the past fortnight, Robinson said he felt the crowd had largely moved on from the drama at Headingley.
“It didn’t feel as hostile as I was expecting,” Robinson wrote in a column for Wisden.
“But then, at the end of the day, the mood probably calmed down a little bit because the laws are the laws with the Jonny thing and I can understand both sides.
“I’m glad it’s settled down, but I’ve no doubt there will be something next week and then the week after! I think that’s just the nature of the series, the smallest moments get spiced up.”
Alex Carey’s controversial stumping of Bairstow when the Englishmen thought the ball was dead at the end of an over after ducking a Cameron Green bouncer has ignited debate in the cricket world with even the rival Prime Ministers trading barbs over the incident.
England captain Ben Stokes claims he would have recalled a batter in the same situation but Australian skipper Pat Cummins was unrepentant because Carey had thrown the ball while Bairstow was in his crease and the umpires had not called over, therefore the play was not dead.
It came at a critical moment in England’s run-chase in the second Test at Lord’s which ultimately ended 43 runs short despite Stokes’ majestic 155.
Robinson’s view on the incident is unusual given he has been needling the Australians throughout the series – he was sanctioned for a foul-mouthed send-off after dismissing Usman Khawaja in the first Test, called out Ricky Ponting as a sledger of yesteryear and deried the touring team’s tailenders as three No.11s.
He also revealed pace spearhead Mark Wood was on all fours barking like a dog just moments before going out to Headingley to destroy the Australian batting line-up in last week’s third Test.
Describing his first spell of the third Test as the fastest thing he’s seen in his life, Robinson said Wood had the English team in stitches in the sheds before play.
“Woody’s just got this mad, unique energy. There’s no one else like him. You think he’s drunk half the time yet he doesn’t touch a drop,” he added.
“Bear in mind this is a bloke who, 10 minutes before we went out, literally at 10:50am, was on all-fours barking on the changing room floor, going, “There’s a dog in the dressing room. There’s a dog in here, lads…”
Robinson said he could tell by the way world-class batters like Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja were being troubled by the 150km/h thunderbolts that Wood was unnerving the Aussies. Wood’s average speed was 145.62km/h for the spell.
“There was one ball that Marnus Labuschagne played, and after it he had a sort of wry, awkward smile on his face,” Robinson said.
“Even Uzzie, who obviously plays pace really well and has been in such good form, even he struggled with the pace at times. He went from having this quiet persona at the crease to suddenly smiling and joking, trying to give off the feelgood vibes that he was fine.
“Every batter during that spell was doing the same thing. It was awkwardly fast and awkwardly uncomfortable, and as a batter you’re trying to convey that you’re fine when you’re really not. Us bowlers were saying that if we’d been batting out there, we might just have kicked our poles over.”
Robinson has declared himself “100 per cent” fit to resume bowling in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, after overcoming back spasms.
He limped from the field after bowling 11.2 overs in the third Test at Headingley last week, and did not send down another ball in the match.
Even if fit, the 29-year-old is no guarantee to face Australia, with a fresh James Anderson expected to return for his home fixture in Manchester.
England will likely want to keep Stuart Broad in their side given his record against David Warner, while Wood and seamer Chris Woakes were instrumental in the Headingley victory.
But Robinson said if picked, he would have no issue bowling. “Sometimes these things come around, but then they go just as quickly as well. I’m 100 per cent fit for Manchester,” Robinson said in his Wisden column.
“It was just a sudden, quick stabbing feeling in the back. I think we caught it earlier than I have done in the past. I had some acupuncture, a bit of treatment, and I was fine after that.
“I was available to bowl on the third day if I’d been needed.”
Robinson’s fitness is one hurdle cleared for England, with Ben Stokes still no certainty to bowl after knee and glute issues.
with AAP
Opeo
Roar Rookie
If you were implying that England have not won the Ashes at home since 2001, I apologise for correcting you.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
"They have lost series at home since 2001, just not against Australia." Seriously? Everyone knows that in the context of a discussion on *the Ashes*, the reference by Pope to 2001 was being made in relation to, *the Ashes*. Is it *really* necessary to bombard the site with such pedantic replies when everyone knows what the context was?
Shire
Roar Rookie
Thomson did end up averaging 28 by the time his career was over, so he's not that far off.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Crazy, l know. I've had sharp differences with a couple and ended the friendship over it.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Ollie's learned one important fact about writing a newspaper column; if you're going to say something stupid, it's best to go whole hog. The best players of pace bowling in the last century would have had issues in those gloomy conditions and likely all would have been "troubled" at some point or another, but once again, Mr Irrelevant misses the point. How many top order batsmen did Wood get out?
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
The floods were, apparently, engineered by the government to force people to move to the city... I have family in the northern rivers & am up their regularly. Very high percentage of conspiracy theory believers up there. Not my family thankfully.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
:shocked: Is this related to flat earth stuff? I’ve gotta an acquaintance up here who believes this stuff and that even potholes are a conspiracy against motorists in an intended way :shocked:
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
Haha How's the cloud seeding going up there? :stoked:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I posted something but Northern Rivers Christian Militia paid me a visit last night threatening me in their mercy.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Oh yeah, it was petty stuff.
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Honestly who would pay Ollie Robinson to write a column and worst of all who would read what that big mouth, f47 ar5e has to say. Can't imagine he'll be selected for Manchester but I bloody hope he is
Dougs
Roar Rookie
The laws are the laws, of course of course, and no one can break the laws of course, unless of course, the laws of course, are the famous spirit of cricket.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
Interesting they reckon he could be the fastest ever Englishman. Larwood, Tyson, Malcolm , Archer in the same company then? Curiously for one reason or another their careers were probably not as prosperous as they might have been. Dev Malcolm never quite brought his guns to bear on Australia but he was mighty quick.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
As much as l like Boof that was quite shameful.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Nice
The Bush
Roar Guru
Is this high school? Unless the Police told you or Cricket Australia announced he, surely you’d have the good sense to not repeat gossip. It’s pathetic, seriously pathetic.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
Who writes these headlines????? NO POM HAS SAID BAIRSTOW DID NOT BREAK THE LAW. :angry: :shocked: :shocked:
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
It's not in the spirit of Catholicism to apologise :laughing: :laughing:
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
So many great highlights from the first three tests and we're still talking about this..
Tempo
Roar Rookie
The way he told it, sounds like Cook suggested it was Alex Carey to the barber. In any event, just because he heard this story doesn’t mean he should broadcast it to millions of listeners without checking its accuracy.