Ollie Robinson’s chances of a Test recall have taken another hit after he was forced to withdraw from the County Select XI to face touring side New Zealand at Chelmsford on Thursday due to back stiffness during the pre-match warm-up.
Robinson, one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, made his Test debut almost exactly a year ago, against New Zealand at Lord’s, where he overcame an off-field controversy surrounding his historically offensive tweets to claim seven wickets and cement his status as one of the game’s best English-style seamers.
Robinson’s records
He went on to take 28 wickets at 19.60 in his first home season, and he demonstrated that his style could be effective abroad as well, taking 11 more at 25.54 in England’s Ashes campaign. However, concerns about his fitness began to surface during that tour, and after missing the Sydney Test, he bowled only 19 overs across two innings in the series finale at Hobart due to a back spasm.
Following his first-innings collapse, England’s bowling coach, Jon Lewis, called him out, stating that “We’ve been open and honest with him. And now it’s up to him to get to work.”
He bowled one over in the first innings and only seven overs on the third day, including four off-spin overs. He got a better workout for New Zealand’s next tour game at Hove, bowling 18 economical – albeit wicketless – overs in a rain-soaked match.
However, having already been left out of England’s squad for the first two Tests of the New Zealand tour, and with the Vitality Blast now dominating the county schedules, Robinson now has just one Championship game, against Glamorgan in Cardiff on June 12, to make his case for selection for the third Test, which begins on June 23.
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