The Ashes’ second test- a pink ball test- is currently being held at Adelaide oval. England were completely dominated by Kangaroos for the initial three days as their bowling lacked luck and their batsmen failed to fire.
However, proceedings got a bit more even when the game entered its fourth day of play. Mighty Australian top-order collapsed as the Englishmen consistently dented their run-making. Except for Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes, all English bowlers were amongst the wickets.
Ollie Robinson turns spinner due to slow-over rate concerns
Malan and Root’s part-time spin accounted for two wickets each. Regardless, it was Ollie Robinson who hogged the limelight. There were two reasons for it. First- His accurate line and lengths helped him to scalp a couple of wickets. Second- He turned into an off-spinner.
Root copped a blow to his abdomen during Day 4’s pre-game warmups. Thus, Ben Stokes was acting as the captain for the majority of the third innings. England wanted to take advantage of rough and cover up some lost overs but they didn’t have Root’s spin to turn to.
Therefore, Ollie Robinson tried to act as his like-for-like replacement. He bowled three overs of off-spin even as Root appeared back on the field. Here’s the video of Robinson- The Spinner.
https://twitter.com/AbdullahNeaz/status/1472438464624824323
Though Ollie Robinson’s off-spin wasn’t very effective, it at least entertained the crowd and helped his side rush through some overs and prevent losing WTC points for slow over-rates. It is noteworthy that during their first inning’s bowling, England had lost eight WTC points for the same reason.
It was some real fun to watch six-feet five spinners. Not every day does one witness such incidents and whenever one does, they’re memorable. Nonetheless, Robinson switched back to pace-bowling after his off-spin deemed useless.
In the end, Ollie’s switch-back turned to be fruitful as he dismissed Travis Head courtesy of his nagging pace. Earlier, he had also bagged the prized scalp of Steven Smith. Robinson’s overall match figures read ninety-nine for three.