Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has lashed out at English pacer Ollie Robinson. Robinson made a statement that the Australian team was quite defensive in their approach and he was quite surprised about the same. Clarke has not taken those statements well and has asked Robinson to keep his mouth shut.
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England lost the first match and Robinson was involved in quite a few moments. He had a verbal battle with Australian opener Usman Khawaja in which pacer James Anderson had to intervene. Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden also took shots at Robinson and legendary Ricky Ponting was also unimpressed with him.
Robinson has been getting shots from a lot of Aussie players and Clarke is the latest name on the list. Clarke who took charge of the Australian team after Ponting in 2011 is a World Cup-winning captain. However, he announced his retirement during Ashes 2015 where he had a forgetful performance both as captain and batter.
Michael Clarke Asks Ollie Robinson To Keep Shut
Clarke took a jibe at Robinson by putting a question mark on his place in the Playing XI of the side. He said that Robinson is only making the cut because the pace duo of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood is not there. For those unversed, Archer is out of the whole summer due to an injury. Wood is part of the squad but was left out of the first game.
Even the Australian team was surprised by the exclusion of Wood as they were preparing for his extra bounce. Despite all the criticism, Robinson was decent in the Birmingham Test where he scalped five wickets. Clarke said the English team was short on runs and Robinson had no right to make those comments.
“He needs to shoosh,” Clarke said on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“If England were fully fit you wouldn’t even get a game, Ollie. If Joffra Archer was playing, or if (Chris) Wood had been playing and was fully fit, old mate — I don’t know what town he plays for — he’d be back playing clubbies.”
Clarke advised Robinson to concentrate on his bowling rather than running his mouth. Had Anderson made those comments, Clarke would have taken it because of his stature.
Ollie Robinson vs Mark Wood vs Jofra Archer Test Record
| Bowler | Matches | Wickets | Average | Stike Rate | 5W | BBI |
| Ollie Robinson | 17 | 71 | 21.15 | 47.1 | 0 | 5/49 |
| Mark Wood | 28 | 90 | 30.88 | 56.5 | 3 | 6/37 |
| Jofra Archer | 13 | 42 | 31.04 | 62.10 | 3 | 6/45 |
Despite Clarke’s comments, the record makes it clear that Robinson’s record is better than Wood and Archer’s so far. His average and strike rate are really impressive with the red ball and has earned his way into the team.
