In the first innings of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, Australia posted a commendable total of 416 after being asked to bat. Steve Smith once again notched up a century, while Travis Head (77) and David Warner (66) also made significant contributions to Australia’s innings. In response, England ended Day 2 at 278/4, with Ben Duckett leading the scoring for the hosts with 98 runs. Australia employed the short-ball tactic effectively, claiming quick wickets in England’s middle order.
England faced criticism for their loose bowling on the opening day of the Test, with their effectiveness improving only towards the end of the day. Joe Root’s dismissal of Travis Head and Cameron Green within a single over halted Australia’s progress, and the hosts eventually bowled them out for 416 before lunch on Day 2.
Ollie Robinson emerged as one of the top wicket-takers in Australia’s innings, finishing with figures of 3/100. However, Robinson has faced criticism, for his overall bowling impact, as Ricky Ponting, the former Australian captain, expressed his view that Robinson has not appeared threatening to the opposition batters in the ongoing Ashes series. Ponting pointed out that most of Robinson’s wickets have come against the tailenders.
Robinson has been in the spotlight since the beginning of the Ashes series due to his send-off to Usman Khawaja in the opening match and subsequent comments in the media. In the first innings of the Edgbaston Test, Robinson dismissed Khawaja, Lyon, and Pat Cummins, finishing with five wickets. He then took the wickets of Warner and Cameron Green in the second innings of the same match, which England eventually lost by a narrow margin. In the first innings of the Lord’s Test, Robinson claimed the wickets of Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon.
Speaking in the ICC review, the 48-year-old pointed out a trend in Robinson’s bowling, stating that his statistics have been bolstered by taking wickets against the lower-order batters in this series.
“I don’t think he’s looked dangerous in the series at all. I mean, if you look at the wickets, he’s got the tailenders out in each game. Yes he got Marnus (Labuschagne) in this innings here. But then he got (Nathan) Lyon and then he got (Josh) Hazlewood. So if he didn’t get the 10 and 11 out, then he finishes his innings with one wicket at over four runs an over,” the former Australian skipper said to ICC.
The Australians have had a go at Robinson over his attitude from the first Test match. The English speedster was criticised after he took the name of Ponting while justifying his feisty behaviour from the Edgbaston match. While acknowleging Robinson’s skillset, Ponting said Robinson should be focussing on his bowling rather than making remarks about the past.
“He’s a very skilful bowler, no doubt about that, and no one would’ve said a word about Ollie Robinson if he hadn’t have sort of instigated this whole tit-for-tat that’s been happening over the last couple of weeks. And to be honest, I think the whole thing’s been blown completely out of proportion,” Ponting concluded.
