Ollie Robinson. (Photo Source: SonyLiv)
The ongoing first Test of the Ashes 2023 is at one of the most exciting junctures with either of the teams having a good chance to topple each other in the coming sessions ahead. Speaking of day 2 action, Australia fought back courtesy of their star opener, Usman Khawaja, who put in a marathon effort en route to his 141-run knock which kept the visitors in the hunt after suffering early jolts.
However, in an interesting turn of events, to get Khawaja out, the England skipper, Ben Stokes came up with an interesting ‘Bumbrella’ field set up to disrupt the Aussie’s concentration. As a result, he showed his faith in pacer Ollie Robinson who delivered for his team when it mattered the most. With six fielders inside the circle on both sides of the field, Stokes surprised the batter by posing them as catchers. This set-up meant that there was every chance of springing in a bouncer to Khawaja.
Interestingly enough, Robinson was successful in bluffing the Aussie by darting in a yorker on the off-pole which went for a toss after Khawaja tried to step out and shuffled in an attempt to drive inside out but missed the line. Consequently, his great knock came to an end.
What an absurd and sick send-off from Ollie Robinson to a guy who made a classy 141. Great ball, poor follow-up.#Ashes #ENGvAUS #ENGvsAUS pic.twitter.com/lIF0b6JkrU
— A (@Anossid) June 18, 2023
It was at this point that Ollie Robinson in the heat of the moment, gave Khawaja a rather arrogant send-off after cleaning him up. The pacer was all pumped and used some cuss words while the Australian started to walk back to the pavilion.
“F*** off, you f***ing pr**k,” Robinson yelled in Khawaja’s face.
Notably, the Australian opener batter for close to four sessions to bring his first Test century for Australia in England. Usman Khawaja took 321 balls to score 141 runs which guided the visitors to finish only seven runs behind (386/10) England’s first-innings’ total.
Ollie Robinson’s three-wicket haul led England to wrap up Australia to gain a single-digit lead
Meanwhile, after the departure of Usman Khawaja, Australia skipper Pat Cummins, showed some resistance and tried to get his side closer to England’s total. During his stay at the crease, Cummins played a good knock (32 off 62 balls) which also included three maximums. Albeit, courtesy of some tactical brilliance by Ben Stokes, the close-in fielders and bowling bouncers right on the body of the batter worked for the English side and they quickly wrapped up the visitors as Ollie Robinson dismissed Cummins and Nathan Lyon (1 run off 6 balls) while Broad picked Boland’s wicket. Notably, Robinson finished with figures of 3/55.
At this moment, the rain has halted the game, meaning that England after having lost two early wickets as Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett with the score reading 28/2 on the board after 10.3 overs.