FIVE-STAR ROBINSON PASSES HIS BIG TEST
Ollie Robinson stood with arms aloft before closing his eyes and letting out a roar that combined triumph and relief.
He had just seen stuart broad buck england’s fielding trend by taking an outstanding tumbling catch at fine leg to finally end india’s resistance and see the back of Jasprit bumrah.
it gave a bowler suddenly integral to Joe Root’s Ashes aspirations his first Test five-wicket haul and just about kept england in a first Test they seem determined to gift india.
Just as significant was the sight of broad running to embrace Robinson, 27, because it showed england have accepted him despite the scandal that engulfed him on debut at lord’s.
Robinson has certainly had quite an introduction to the highest level from the moment that first appearance against new Zealand earlier this season was marred by the emergence of racist and sexist tweets he sent in his late teens.
That could easily, he admitted last night, have ended his england career before it had really begun but how he’s grabbed the second chance afforded him here.
And how england need him now his sussex team-mate Jofra Archer has been ruled out for the rest of the year and their Ashes pace gameplan has come close to falling apart.
it was predictable that Jimmy Anderson would lead england’s fightback after their first-day capitulation on the Trent bridge ground where he has earned so much success.
More surprisingly, it was a novice with much to prove who joined him in bowling india out for 278 rather than that other veteran nottingham specialist stuart broad.
This was a test of Robinson’s character as much as the height, bounce and accuracy that have brought him so much county success. And he passed it with flying colours.
Robinson displayed a spiky side that is part of his persona at sussex, too, as he clashed verbally with india’s batsmen on a niggly third day, telling Ravindra Jadeja to shush after ending the half-century that threatened to take the Test away from england.
They certainly made it harder for themselves by following up a woeful first-innings 183 with a shambolic display in the field that saw three catches go down and runout chances squandered. The tone was set on day two when Dom sibley dropped his seventh slip chance as an england player and Kl Rahul was again the fortunate batsman yesterday when Root put him down on 78 off Anderson straight after lunch. Poor Anderson also dropped a steepling catch in the deep during a spell when the ball followed him around in the field, Mohammed shami being reprieved on five. england’s throwing was as suspect as their catching as they spurned wickets by failing to hit the stumps with direct hits. The most costly came when Jadeja should have been run out by Dan lawrence, who hurried his throw as Jos buttler attempted in vain to rush up to the stumps. Then Rory burns missed from close range with shami out of his ground and Anderson similarly squandered the opportunity to run out bumrah.
it was indicative of a chaotic display that allowed india’s supposedly vulnerable tail to add a potentially decisive 73 for the last three wickets, Jadeja leading the charge with a hard-hitting 56 that featured an extraordinary six off his legs off Anderson.
That allowed india to build on the platform given them by Rahul, who belied his reputation for a porous defence on his return to the Test side before falling to Anderson. Anderson — who was not short of the odd word himself, mainly to Jadeja, the man with whom he clashed spectacularly here seven years ago — was superb again in moving clear of Anil Kumble into third place in Test cricket’s top wicket-taking table. but england will be concerned that neither broad, on the sixth anniversary of his magnificent eight for 15 against Australia here, nor sam Curran could back up the old master and their new seam-bowling hope Robinson, leaving them effectively with a two-man attack. And england will have to bat a lot better today if they are to stop india going one up in their quest to win a first Test series in england since 2007. sibley and burns were at least helped by a lack of swing for india as they reduced the deficit by 25 before yet more rain brought a premature close to another day when the grand old game did not help itself in front of another capacity crowd. There was a real lack of urgency in the field, with constant unnecessary delays and even the sight of Rahul seemingly deciding to leave the field himself when a squally shower hit the morning session. Umpires Michael Gough and Richard Kettleborough did nothing to stop him, even though the rain was clearly about to pass, and it took the intervention of Anderson to tell the india batsman to stay where he was and get on with the game. it is a Test that india remain firm favourites to win as long as there is enough play in the last two days. And today’s forecast is particularly grim. but whatever happens from here, it is a Test that has seen the redemption of Robinson who, from the worst of starts, now looks destined for a long england career.