English Cricket Thread

[alfie]

Sussex still flying the flag for Robinson...no surprise there.

I do not disagree with the opinion that he was badly - and perhaps unfairly - treated by England. Nor that his record up until that 2023 injury affected period was excellent. Even at that point I assumed he would sooner or later be brought back.

I do not profess to know whether his exclusion is/was caused just by a supposed dislike on the part of Key or anyone else in the England set up ; or because of a perceived problem of attitude which was not wanted in the dressing room ; or because his fitness had become insufficient for the role he was likely to play. And unless anyone here has a much closer connection to that England camp I would respectfully suggest that no one else on here does either.

Just to make it really clear : I was/am unhappy to see what has become of Robinson. But we are where we are and from all accounts he simply isn't at present the bowler he was three years ago. Can throw all sorts of stuff around but it won't change that fact. If/when he sets the CC on fire I would be ready to champion a return to the colours ; but until then I will leave the dead horse flogging to those with a taste for such , as I entered this thread simply to comment on the possible available pool of pace bowlers for England's next tour of Australia. And I'm done for now.

[sussexpob]

Alfie,

The net output of a players performance is cold, hard objective fact, and any other subjective context is almost entirely irrelevant when judging that. Quite literally in this example, we have an England Team manager who says openly that Robinson is not fit enough or good enough at the moment - yet what is the net result? Well, despite missing 2 games on return from India, Robinson played 12 consecutive games in 2024 for Sussex, bowling only 9 overs short of the most by any bowler in the FC season. So, on the one hand we have provable fact that says Robinson's fitness level allowed him to bowl more overs than anyone else per game in the whole CC system v an argument that he is not fit enough. So, what is fit enough then? Because it very much appears that Rob Key is setting a standard that no one can reach based on some arbitrary figure that is made up. Did he pick Sanderson, Carson or Bamber for the England team because they were the only people to bowl more than him and reach the mythical standard of workloads required..... of course he didn't.

Ok, I hear you scream "but what about attitude/dressing room behaviour". Well, I literally do not care. If you want to tell me Robbo climbs down a drainpipe and sneaks out for 12 beers and a KFC everynight, and that makes him unfit - doesn't matter, bowls more than anyone. You want to say he don't try in the nets - doesn't matter, bowls more than anyone. And so on.... all these arguments do is add irrelevant context to something based on a perceived effect - or, more likely, just gaslighting us to cover up for bias.

What matters - performance. And how did Robinson do last year? 41 wickets @ 25. Apparently this was not good enough. So what is good enough? Atkinson averages 25 in FC cricket, got picked. Carse over 30 (with a season average of plus 100 a wicket) got picked. Jimmy Anderson career average... oh, 25. Stuart Broad, oops...27. Bashir couldnt get a game at his county... and so on. Net conclusion - ah yes. No one once again can meet this mythical standard of performance. Carse averages 12 runs a wicket more in FC cricket, took 37 wickets less at 75 runs more per wicket, and that was deemed superior.

Literally nothing stacks up - Long term proven form, Robinson is generationally great in Fc cricket. Test form - generationally great. Form - had a season that on average compares to all the best bowlers in the CC records. Bad Form - was limited to basically one game on a pancake in India. Fitness - bowling more overs a game than anyone.

Yay - we are back to the Flower days.

[sussexpob]

I do not profess to know whether his exclusion is/was caused just by a supposed dislike on the part of Key or anyone else in the England set up

I am sure Key doesn't dislike Robbo in the slightest. Its not like Kent fans froth at the mouth when Robinson's name is mentioned, thinking back to that time in 2012 when Key and Kent booted him out the county deeming him not good enough, only for him to sign for their historical rivals next door and them get to enjoy him regularly smash their county in games - Kent fans definitely don't lament that decision by Key as being one of the biggest brain farts in the history of county cricket, and I am sure Key holds no grudges at all towards Robinson making his decision look so generationally foolish.

I mean, the proof is in Key always having balanced views on Robinson - like advocating he be dropped from the England team in 2021 after the most respected cricket publication in the world ranked him the years best test player. Or saying he isnt good enough when the ICC rank him as the 4th best bowler on the planet.

But I guess we can give Rob Key the benefit of the doubt. He's always been an expert on professionalism and fitness - its not like his diet led to him having a stroke at 40, or that he was 8 stone overweight at parts of his career.

[Slipstream]

Robinson, who bowled 25 overs in Nottinghamshire’s innings, thought Sussex had a chance if they could catch a lead of 150. He also waved in the direction of Rob Key.

“Obviously, I’d love to play international cricket again and I hope that by bowling these longer spells I can prove I can still do that. I’d just like to put my name back in the hat, really.”

[Arthur Crabtree]

Robinson, who bowled 25 overs in Nottinghamshire’s innings, thought Sussex had a chance if they could catch a lead of 150.

Maybe, they're proving hard to shift. Sunny day, no clouds though.

[sussexpob]

The amusing thing about this Notts v Sussex game given the context our discussions this week is, Fergus O Neill is bowling 69 to 73 mph spells. Can't take wickets on Aussie pitches bowling that pedestrian filth....

Remind me again who won Aussie domestic player of the year this year?

[Arthur Crabtree]

Robinson, who bowled 25 overs in Nottinghamshire’s innings, thought Sussex had a chance if they could catch a lead of 150.

Looks like he's going to find out.

[bigfluffylemon]

Sciver-Brunt named women's captain

[Durhamfootman]

I guess there wasn’t really an alternative. Let’s hope her form doesn’t fall off a cliff

[andy]

James rew being added to squad for test Vs Zimbabwe..no suprise there he's a run machine

[sussexpob]

James rew being added to squad for test Vs Zimbabwe..no suprise there he's a run machine

Not sure he count on international umpires being so bad though. He was out first ball to Jack Carson in the Sussex game, an absolutely massive outside edge.... Stuart Broad style. Went on to make runs.

I do wonder if the umpires sometimes give more leeway to international prospects

[andy]

One bad decision dosent mean his record dosent stack up.....feel for Jordan Cox though he seems destined to never play a test match..injury always seems to strike at the worst time for him

[Arthur Crabtree]

I've been looking out for this squad, but I see it was named a week ago.

Ben Stokes (Durham) - captain, Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Sam Cook (Essex), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), James Rew (Somerset), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)

Going to be an inexperienced attack.

And this is one Pope that has been announced.

[Arthur Crabtree]

BBC says Tongue, Cook and Atkinson will be the pace bowlers. But surely Potts will figure. Maybe they'll go in without a spinner.

[sussexpob]

BBC says Tongue, Cook and Atkinson will be the pace bowlers. But surely Potts will figure. Maybe they'll go in without a spinner.

Rob Key obviously werent watching Tongue against Sussex, because his pace was well down into the high 70s to low 80s mostly. God forbid England play two players not throwing lightening bolts.