Too good to overlook, Robinson braces for third and final Test chance

Fitness and attitude issues have clouded his career to date, but Sussex seamer remains the attack's missing link

Vithushan Ehantharajah

Published: Jun 2, 2026, 10:11 AM (3 hrs ago)

It was on this day in 2021 that Ollie Robinson made his Test debut, against New Zealand at Lord's. That his family could only watch his cap presentation from behind the advertising boards due to Covid-19 protocols underlines just how long ago that was.

On Thursday, against the same opponents, at the same venue, Robinson will likely restart a 20-Test career that was paused two years ago.

His journey resumes after missing England's last 24 matches, the last five of which in Australia have, ultimately, re-opened a previously closed door. And, just like the high-power incumbents who have softened their stance towards him, this will be Robinson's third attempt to make good on the promise he has shown at Test level.

Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes all survived the review into England's 4-1 Ashes defeat. Having come together in 2022 and refreshed their team at the start of 2024, they have been blessed with a chance to go again. For that triumvirate, and Robinson, this really is a third and final shot at the big time.

Robinson's England story so far is complex. Amid a tangle of real concerns about his fitness, and off-record whispers about a player who is unwilling to make up the difference, he remains a supremely gifted seamer whose 76 Test dismissals at 22.92 already have him tagged as one of the format's many "what if" cricketers. Working backwards seems the best way to unpick all of that.

As captain of a resurgent Sussex this summer, Robinson's 18 dismissals at 26.27 have, in McCullum's words, "banged the door down like we asked him to do". Both McCullum and Key exchanged messages with Robinson at the start of the season to let him know he remained in their thoughts, after discarding him at the end of the India tour in 2024.

The feedback from those around Robinson, McCullum says, has been enough to convince them they are dealing with a changed person. The armband has brought Robinson extra responsibility which he seems to be wearing well. He has bowled the most overs for Sussex in their first six games and attends optional training sessions to lead by example. The latter, by his own admission, is a change from the norm.

Earlier this year, Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace - also Robinson's step-father - rang some alarm bells when he omitted Robinson from his preferred Test XI in a video put out by the county. Ahead of the release, however, Farbrace explained to Robinson that it was tongue-in-cheek, and motivated by wanting him to stay put at Hove. England, however, felt they needed Robinson more, picking him in their 15-player squad ahead of Essex's Sam Cook.

Part of the debrief of the winter's travails centred around England's bowling attack. While Key has since insisted that, with a bit more experience, the attack that contested the Ashes has huge potential, they currently lack a focal point who can set the tone with the new ball, as well as a confrontational edge. Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue offered both intermittently, but Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts wilted in Australia.

One of the regime's main worries with the current crop of English fast bowler is they *just* run in and bowl, without a feel for the game, or a desire to immerse themselves in a contest. The belief is all of the above comes naturally to Robinson.

Particularly the aggression. Whether getting into a battle with Usman Khawaja in the 2023 Ashes, or even sledging Virat Kohli when running drinks on the 2021 tour of India as a member of the Covid-19 replacement shadow squad, Robinson has always relished the battle.

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Above all, however, Robinson's skill has got him back in the fold. And that may be the surest indication that England's focus has shifted from a more holistic, culture-first approach to simply winning Test matches. Because the reasons for Robinson's exclusion after 2024's India series, and at the start of the Stokes-McCullum era in 2022 were not expressly on performance.

A key McCullum-ism is for players to "give back to the group", something Robinson was understood to have fallen foul of two years ago in India. Essentially, unwritten rules were broken.

Robinson spent little time socialising with the group, partly because he had brought his now-wife, Mia Baker, on tour for the duration. Having split with the mother of his daughter months earlier - an ordeal that was publicised in the Daily Mail - it was undoubtedly an important step for their relationship. Crucially, it was something he had checked would all be above-board with the ECB.

One thing he did not run past them was a new podcast, Chatting Balls, that he and Baker started. At the start of 2024, the ECB had decided upon a media blackout to narrow the players' focus on the challenge of India. Robinson, despite being on a central contract, did not heed those measures, including when giving this interview to ESPNcricinfo ahead of the series. The podcast, like his Wisden Cricket Monthly column during the previous year's Ashes, irked the management and players by revealing behind-the-scenes details.

Robinson played just once in India, in the fourth Test at Ranchi. A back issue limited him to just 13 overs in India's 103.2-over first innings in which he dropped a crucial catch. That the injury was sustained while scoring a half-century offered some mitigation, but the management attributed it to poor conditioning.

Coaches were left frustrated by what they perceived as a lack of effort from Robinson in training. Though he had ramped up his fitness work leading into the tour, knocking off 20 seconds from his 2km time trial in the process, the feeling prevailed that he was still unwilling to go the extra mile, including during the last Test in Dharamsala, when a stomach bug confined him to the team hotel. Some wondered if, having been admonished for not pitching in, he could at least have shown his commitment by turning up at the ground.

The back issue was the continuation of an unfortunate theme. He suffered one in his previous appearance against Australia in the 2023 Ashes, and a couple during the 2021-22 series in Australia. The second in Hobart led to then-bowling coach Jon Lewis publicly chastising Robinson for not being fit enough.

Another came in a warm-up match at the start of the West Indies tour in March 2022. It ruled him out of the first Test, which made for an especially spicy subplot given that both James Anderson and Stuart Broad had been dropped from the tour party by interim managing director Andrew Strauss.

In doing so, it had been hoped the likes of Robinson would thrive in their absence. He ended up sitting out all three matches.

Not unlike the current situation, Strauss' logic was sound, even if he had pulled the cord too early on Anderson's and Broad's careers. Robinson, after all, had earned the respect of both England's all-time wicket takers in his short stint in the set-up.

This admiration had been established during the pandemic when, as part of a 55-man training group, Robinson had stood out to both veterans.

His length was metronomic. He was capable of landing the ball in the same spot off one pace or his full run-up. He had perfected the wobble seam, could move the ball both ways and, because of his height, had an excellent surprise bouncer. He also understood reverse swing. Most of all, he was on par with Anderson and Broad's tactical awareness. All of which came to the fore in Pakistan at the end of 2022, after Stokes had chosen to recall Robinson during his first summer in charge.

Robinson was also not afraid to speak his mind, something Anderson and Broad admired if at times they found it a little jarring. Not since Chris Woakes had someone so forcibly earned the pair's respect.

Somewhere along the line, Robinson lost it. Anderson and Broad eventually felt they could not lean on him as they could on each other when the going got tough. By the end, they wondered if they would need to bowl his overs should another fitness issue arise.

Speaking on the For the Love of Cricket podcast, Broad alluded to this when speaking of his surprise that Stokes and McCullum had recalled Robinson for this summer: "I'd love to know what the turnaround has been - has he suddenly improved his fitness or improved his attitude, because he was never left out because of performance.

"Not that these guys have ever said this to me, I thought McCullum and Stokes had lost faith and lost trust and that was the end of that. I suppose it's probably a case of who else will take the new ball? The new-ball bowling in the Ashes was awful and they need a new-ball bowler.

"Not many bowlers get another chance when you have been written off for character and attitude."

Broad is right. And as such, we are embarking on a fascinating period for this England management and Robinson. The player remains adamant there need not be any clear-the-air talks, and both parties reacquainted themselves with one another at a Loughborough training camp at the start of last week. The focus is on moving forward, not looking back.

At 32, Robinson may well end up being a stop-gap. But he could be one of high repute, much like Ryan Sidebottom. The left-arm seamer debuted in May 2001, then waited six years for a recall. He played 21 more Tests before eventually handing new-ball duties over to Anderson and Broad. Sidebottom's 79 wickets were important in their own right but, more crucial still, was his role as a bridge to Test cricket's most productive opening partnership.

Situations have conspired in Robinson's favour. But you could argue the same is true for England, who are fortunate that someone of Robinson's class remains available to fix their existing issues, ones they brought on themselves after forcing Anderson into retirement at the start of the 2024 summer, before finding themselves short of bowling nous when Woakes' shoulder injury contributed to his Test retirement at the end of last summer.

Robinson's return at Lord's is proof he is too good to be ignored by Key, McCullum and Stokes. England turning to him a third time is an admission they are not a good enough team to do without him. It is an opportunity neither can afford to waste.

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

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