Sussex pace bowler named one of Wisden’s cricketers of year
Sussex’s England paceman Ollie Robinsonhasspokenofhispride at being named one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year.
And he has told of his hopes of being back in the Sussex side very soon – possibly even for this week’s County Championship at home to Durham, starting tomorrow.
Joe Root has been named Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world for 2021.
But Robinson is named one of their five Cricketers of the Year, with India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and opener Rohit Sharma, New Zealand batter Devon Conway and South Africa women’s captain Dane van Niekerk joining Robinson on the 2021 list.
South Africa opener Lizelle Lee, 30, was named the leading women’s cricketer in the world.
Robinson made his England breakthrough last year, finally getting his chance in the Test team after several consistent red-ball seasons with Sussex – and he took the international chance with both hands.
Speaking to Adrian Harms of BBC Radio Sussex at Worcester, where Sussex were playing in the county championship, Robinson said: “It is a reward for the hard work I’ve put in over the last few years at Sussex.
“Playing for England has been amazing. The summer I had was pretty special.
“The winter didn’t go how I or the team would have liked. But we are just trying to improve and get better and win games for England.”
Robinson will be hoping to prove his fitness in the coming weeks with Sussex ahead of a busy summer of Tests for England. Asked about his fitness issues, he said: “I had a recurrence of a back spasm in Hobart in the last Test.
“Since then I’ve been training hard again, got my back good and now I’m just building up to play for Sussex again and get ready for the summer.
“I got a little infection after seeing the dentist and it caused me to have a little bit of a fever and put me in bed for three days.
“I was hoping to play this game but now hopefully can play next week (versus Durham).”
How Sussex need him – even if his appearances for the county are likely to be few and far between.
Their bowling unit has struggled in the opening three championship games with inexperience and injuries taking their toll and leaving Sussex without a win in their first three outings.