BESS FOOT FORWARD
Spinner Dom is drafted in for outcast Ollie Weed out offenders
around county cricket. If it was down to me, Ollie Robinson would not be playing Test cricket. I don’t believe this is a problem where you can rehabilitate someone.
“As far as I’m concerned you reap what you sow.”
Culture secretary Oliver Dowden, supported by the Prime Minister, said the ECB had gone “over the top” by
ENGLAND have called up off-spinner Dom Bess for Edgbaston as they look to move on from the Ollie Robinson affair.
Fresh from taking 4-51 in a finalday win over Sussex, Yorkshire’s Bess is unlikely to play in the second Test against New Zealand that begins on Thursday.
But it does show that firstchoice spinner Jack Leach is in the frame to be Robinson’s replacement.
Edgbaston, along with Old Trafford, has long been one of the more responsive grounds for English spinners, so a shift in the balance of the side to include Leach’s left-arm orthodox makes sense. Had Robinson been suspending Robinson pending an investigation.
When asked whether he would be comfortable if Robinson didn’t play again for England, Carberry replied: “Absolutely. Weed them out of the game. Weed these people out.”
He conceded, though, that his 20 years of experience told him Robinson would play for his country again. available for the match, Leach may well have come in for Jimmy Anderson, with England managing his workload carefully.
But head coach Chris Silverwood’s hand has been forced by the events of the past week.
“We will see what sort of wicket it is when we get there,” said Silverwood. “But I’m making sure we’ve got every base covered.
“Jack is absolutely fine. The reason we’ve added Dom is that any cover we may need has to be in here with us. If Jack was to feature, we would need back-up for him, in terms of concussion replacements and things like that.
“If we are looking at a spinner and Jack gets injured leading into it, then we will need someone else there. It’s making sure we cover that.”
Were England to stick to the same balance of side that played at Lord’s, the most obvious replacement would be Craig Overton, the Somerset bowling all-rounder.
Overton last played Test cricket for England in the 2019 Ashes and has returned to the squad on merit following his performances in the County Championship.
However, by suspending Robinson for historic tweets, the England management could be replacing him with a player who has had to deal with a similar issue, namely the use of racist language in a game, which he addressed and again denied using ahead of the first Test.
Silverwood added: “If Craig plays, we will deal with that when we get there.”
There is little doubt that Silverwood and skipper Joe Root are determined to face up to these issues.
But they would hope that the rest of the summer is not dominated by questions about their team’s off-field character.
And apart from openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley, their batting has some work to do.
“I thought Rory played beautifully and Dom showed a lot of guts to stick in and show how stubborn he can be in the second innings,” added Silverwood.
“First time round we paid the price for a lack of discipline and our shot management.”