England pacer Ollie Robinson came in for some heavy criticism by former Australia players Ian Healy and Allan Border, who slammed him for his verbal, over-the-top send-off to Australia’s Usman Khawaja in the ongoing first Test of the Ashes 2023 being played at Edgbaston.
Usman Khawaja made 141 runs before he was clean-bowled by Robinson. This dismissal became the talk of the town after day three’s play ended.
First, the talk was about the trap set by Ben Stokes when there were two players each on off and leg side right in front of Khawaja. After Khawaja lost his timber to Robinson, the tall England pacer celebrated by hurling abuses at the Australia batter.
This was severely criticized by Ian Healy and Allan Border.
The former captain of Australia, Border, acknowledged that the outburst did come in the heat of the moment, but he told Robinson to be ready as he anticipates that Australians will exact revenge when he comes to bat for England in the second innings.
“I have heard some send-offs and have given some send-offs myself. It is sort of heat-of-the-moment sort of stuff. Generally, I think Robinson is a pretty fair bloke from what I gather. But, you get fired up as a big fast bowler, words are said and then afterward it’s all forgotten about generally.
The media will jump on it, of course, but you know what goes around comes around, he’s put a bit of a target on his head. When he comes out the bat, hopefully it’s early tomorrow, and the Aussies won’t forget that’s for sure,” Border told told SEN Breakfast.
Ian Healy, meanwhile, feels that a fine or a punishment awaits Robinson. ICC is well within its right to sanction a player for "any language, action or gesture used by a player and directed towards a batter upon his/her dismissal which has the potential to provoke an aggressive reaction".
Ashes 2023: WATCH – Ben Stokes’ never-seen-before field trap to dismiss Usman Khawaja at Edgbaston
“It is a lack of class like he’s been criticized for, but that’s ok, it happens in the heat of the moment. I think he should have been punished because it was shown so closely on TV and it does incite retaliation.
If Khawaja retaliated to that and said something back to him, he’d probably get in trouble. He (Robinson) was trying to incite that, it was rude and it was rugged. There probably should have been a little fine handed down to Ollie,” Healy told SENQ Breakfast.
Meanwhile, Olli Robinson clarified his actions as "theatre of the game" although he did praise Khawaja for his exceptional show.
"It's my first home Ashes. To get the big wicket at the time was special for me. Uzzy played unbelievably well. To get that wicket for us at the time was massive. We all want that theatre of the game, so I am here to provide it. I don't really care how it is perceived to be honest. It's the Ashes, it's professional sport. If you can't handle that, what can you handle?,” he said on stumps on day three.
When further pressed about his act, he opined that Australia legends like Ponting have all done a similar in the past.
"When you're in the heat of the moment and you have the passion of the Ashes, that can happen. We've all seen Ricky Ponting and other Aussies do the same to us, and just because the shoe is on the other foot it's not received well,” he added.
After bowling out Australia for 386 runs, England finished day three on 28/2, which ended early due to rain.
