England pacer Ollie Robinson might have disturbed the wrong bear as he has found himself in the firing line of probably every former Australian cricketer after he name-dropped Ricky Ponting during the press conference in reference to sledging. Robinson, who was caught cussing Usman Khawaja on the stump mic after dismissing him on 141 in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, said after the incident that Ponting would be the one from Aussie camp to start sledging and it was just the tip of the iceberg.
Since then, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, and Matthew Hayden have all gone behind Robinson urging him to focus on cricket rather than indulging in speaking and the latest one to join the bandwagon is Michael Clarke. While the previous ones have been humble in expressing their opinion, Clarke was straightforward and came to the point, saying that Robinson should just keep quiet.
In a no-nonsense response on the Big Sports Breakfast show, Clarke said, "He needs to shoosh. If England were fully fit you wouldn’t even get a game, Ollie. If Jofra Archer was playing, or if Mark Wood had been playing and was fully fit, old mate — I don’t know what town he plays for — he’d be back playing clubbies.”
Clarke said he would have understood if someone like James Anderson was saying all this but for Robinson, who is new to international cricket, he should just focus on his job at hand rather than speaking ill about any other player.
“I actually don’t know what he’s doing. If James Anderson is saying all this, he’s got street cred. He’s played 180 Test matches, he’s got a lot of wickets. This dude has been around for five minutes. He needs to concentrate on taking wickets .. Ollie, just keep taking five-fors and then you can say what you like," he further added.
Even though Robinson has made more headlines because of his mouth, he was on the money with the ball as well in the first Ashes Test, especially on the final day when Australia were running away with the game and he along with Stuart Broad bent their backs and gave it their all on a flat Edgbaston pitch. With Australia 1-0, England will need their batters and bowlers to stage a strong comeback at Lord's.
