England seamer Ollie Robinson said that he was surprised by Australia’s unwillingness “to go toe-to-toe with us.”
“We were surprised by how defensive Australia were and how unwilling they were to go toe-to-toe with us,” Robinson said in a column on Wisden.
“Obviously it’s worked for them this Test match. But we feel that with the way they’re playing at the moment, a pitch with a bit more movement would benefit us hugely.
“You just don’t see the Australians cautious and on the back foot like that. As soon as we saw the field for that first over, we felt like we had a hold on them.”
Robinson also revealed what Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, had told the team in his post-match address that “it feels like we’ve won, lads.”
“Baz said it after the game, ‘It feels like we’ve won, lads. We’ve entertained the world, and we’ve put the Aussies on the back foot.’ For him to say that after a loss is quite significant for us,” Robinson said.
“Of course it sounds weird because they won it, but I think if they’re honest, Australia will look at themselves and realise they need to change their approach to keep up with how we’re going to play. If there’s any movement in the pitch at Lord’s, the way we’re playing compared to them is going to benefit us hugely.”
On the Khawaja incident, Robinson wrote: “I didn’t realise the Ussie send-off was such a big thing until I got off the pitch to find my phone blowing up with mates texting me and it all going off.
“”I just got caught up in the moment,” he added. “I was desperate for a wicket; I hadn’t bowled that well in the first innings. Obviously Ussie was the big wicket, he was playing beautifully. It was nothing against Ussie, it was just one of those things, I got caught up in the moment and let myself go.
The England seamer has vowed that the team will double down on their ‘Bazball’ approach, and won’t lose hope even if they go 2-0 down in the series.
“I have faith in this team that even if we went 2-0 down we could still win 3-2, because of the style of cricket that we’re playing.
“You could see us come even harder at Lord’s, which is quite a tough thing to do when you’re 1-0 down. We spoke about it in the dressing room. ‘Were we aggressive enough? Did we go hard enough?’
“One thing I can guarantee. You’re going to see us come harder and harder.”
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
