Birmingham: Legendary Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy believes England pacer Ollie Robinson should have been punished with a fine as he was trying to incite a reaction from left-handed batter Usman Khawaja through a fiery send-off on day three of first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Robinson removed Khawaja for 141 on day three’s play on Sunday, knocking back his off stump as he came down the pitch looking to force the ball through the off side. The pacer appeared to swear towards a departing Khawaja during his wicket-taking celebrations.
“It is a lack of class like he’s been criticised for, but that’s ok, it happens in the heat of the moment. I think he should have been punished because it was shown so closely on TV and it does incite retaliation.
If Khawaja retaliated to that and said something back to him, he’d probably get in trouble. He (Robinson) was trying to incite that, it was rude and it was rugged. There probably should have been a little fine handed down to Ollie,” said Healy to SEN Radio.
On the other hand, former Australia captain Allan Border suggested Pat Cummins & Co. may now verbally target Robinson when he comes out to bat in England’s second innings.
“I have heard some send-offs and have given some send-offs myself. It is sort of heat of the moment sort of stuff. Generally, I think Robinson is a pretty fair bloke from what I gather.
But, you get fired up as a big fast bowler, words are said and then afterwards it’s all forgotten about generally. The media will jump on it, of course, but you know what goes around comes around, he’s put a bit of a target on his head. When he comes out to bat, hopefully it’s early tomorrow, and the Aussies won’t forget that’s for sure,” said Border.
Border found the incident to be amusing as Robinson carried on despite Khawaja dominating a major part of the contest until being dismissed for 141.
“As a batsman, you’ve got no comeback, have you? You might be chatting to a bowler the whole time yourself, but at the end of the day, the bowler always wins because he’s the one who gets you out. You hit 140 and you still get sprayed,” he said.
–IANS