Posted by Ollie Robinson hasn’t always seemed fully aware of what he needs to do (or not do) if he wants to play for England again. Our favourite recent quote was about how he hasn’t played for the national side since the 2024 Ranchi Test: “Apparently I fell out with the England management in India – which I didn’t realise I had.”
This might be the purest expression of the very essence of Ollie Robinson: a man who can effortlessly fall out with people and not even know that it’s happened.
You’d think he’d have a clearer view of the performance requirements, but no, not really. Earlier this season he suggested that it was up to him, “to knock the door down by taking wickets and ripping up trees.”
Well which, Ollie? It’s got to be one or the other because ripping up trees ain’t gonna do anything for the wicket-taking ability of a man with your spinal history.
Robinson has knackered his back bowling any number of times. Sometimes even the mere thought that it might be involved in some bowling later in the day has been enough for it to go. It also went during that Ranchi Test while he was batting.
This is not a body part you want to overburden. Honestly, give tree uprooting a miss, son.
Batting, of course, is rather harder to avoid – so why not make the most of it?
With England currently considering picking opening batters who aren’t actually opening batters (James Rew, Zak Crawley – people like that), Tim recently suggested in the comments that they could instead go further and revisit their Nighthawk line of thinking. Why not pick a quasi-sacrificial opener who is primarily a frontline bowler? This would allow England to bat all the way down to eight, if not quite all the way up to one.
Ollie Robinson would be an excellent choice. Today he walked out against Surrey with Sussex 167-8 and outscored the whole top seven combined.
Robinson could definitely score runs as a Test opener. And even if he didn’t, he’d still be annoying, which is surely a worthwhile goal in itself.
