“I’m here to provide theatre of the game”: Ollie Robinson on aggressive send-off to Usman Khawaja

Birmingham [UK], June 19 (ANI): England pacer Ollie Robinson said that he does not care about how his aggressive send-off to Australian batter and centurion Usman Khawaja is perceived by the Australian dressing room, since it is part of the “passion of the Ashes” and he is here to provide the “theatre of the game” to everyone who wants it.

England managed to survive Day-3 with a lot of help from the heavens, as persistent rain brought an early halt to play for the day.

In Australia’s first innings, after Ollie took the big wicket of Usman for 141, he gave a loud and aggressive send-off to the batter while celebrating, which might have involved some abusive words.

Robinson however lauded Usman for his knock and said that getting his wicket during his first home Ashes was special for him.

“It is my first home Ashes and to get the big wicket at the time was special for me. I think Uzzie played unbelievably well. To get that wicket for us as a team at the time was massive. We all want that theatre of the game, don’t we? So I am here to provide it,” said Robinson as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

He added that Australian players have historically shown the same aggression to the England players.

“But I think when you are in the heat of the moment and you have the passion of the Ashes, that can happen. We have all seen Ricky Ponting, other Aussies do the same to us. Just because the shoe is on the other foot, it is not received well,” said Robinson.

“I do not really care how it’s perceived, to be honest. It is the Ashes. It is professional sport. If you can not handle that, what can you handle?” he said.

Robinson also said that getting their opponents’ lower order throughout the series is important, calling them “three number 11s”.

Though the number eight and skipper Pat Cummins scored a useful 38, Australia’s last four wickets fell for 14 runs following Khawaja’s dismissal.

“It is something we spoke about as a group. We said once we get past Cummins, we feel like they have got three No. 11s. It is something that we can target through the series and try and wrap up their innings quite quick and try and give us that momentum into our batting innings,” said Robinson.

Australia won the ICC World Test Championship and has enjoyed plenty of success in red-ball cricket, their tail has been their weakest aspect. Mitchell Starc, who had made 41 in the WTC final against India was omitted from the first Ashes Test, making the lower-order weaker.

England dismissed the lower-order players with the short ball, which proved to be effective despite slowness on the pitch.

“I think it’s pitch dependent, really,” Robinson said of the tactic. “Obviously Pat Cummins is a really good player and I think we felt like bowling full to their tail would give them a chance to maybe score some more runs, so it is a wicket ploy, but also it is harder to score when it is two-paced,” he concluded.

Coming to the match, England currently has a lead over Australia in the test. Their second innings is in progress. At the end of rain-affected day three, they were at 28/2, with Joe Root and Ollie Pope at the crease.

In the first innings, Australia was bundled out for 386 and they trailed England by seven runs, who had scored 393 in their first innings after electing to bat.

Australia was once at 67/3 after David Warner (9), Marnus Labuschagne (0) and Steve Smith (16) were dismissed quickly. Then knocks from Khawaja (141), Alex Carey (66), Travis Head (50) and skipper Pat Cummins (38) carried the Aussies to a big score, though not big enough to secure a lead.

Ollie Robinson (3/55) and Stuart Broad (3/68) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Moeen Ali picked two scalps while skipper Ben Stokes and James Anderson got one.

England declared their first innings at 393/8 after electing to bat first. A century from Root (118* in 152 balls, with seven fours and four sixes), fifties from Jonny Bairstow (78 in 78 balls, with 12 fours) and Zak Crawley (61 in 73 balls, with seven fours) powered England to a huge score.

Nathan Lyon (4/149) was the pick of the bowlers for the Aussies. Josh Hazlewood picked up two wickets while Scott Boland and Cameron Green got a wicket each.