Ollie Robinson will be England’s secret weapon Down Under

If England are going to lose to India at home over the course of the 2021 summer, then they’ll definitely need to win the Ashes in Australia later this year in order to find redemption. Of course, that doesn’t seem remotely likely at this stage after a few months of substandard performances, but there’s still time to come up with a winning strategy.

Admittedly, it will have to be an absolutely brilliant plan as the latest cricket odds show England at 7/2 to win the Ashes in the latest betting markets. Meanwhile, the Australians have been priced as 4/11 to win the famous contest between these two nations. England will be well aware that recent cricket predictions have all but written off their chances Down Under, but a lot can happen between now and the first ball of the first Test due to be bowled on the 8th of December.

Encouragingly, there have also been some positives to come out of the last few Test series in 2021, with Ollie Robinson’s breakthrough being the pick of the bunch after taking his debut wicket in June.

A maiden 5 wicket haul for a new star in Ollie Robinson ⭐️#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/JktOGuaBst

— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) August 6, 2021

Since then, the 27-year-old right-arm, fast-medium bowler has racked up an impressive 16 wickets in his first two international Tests at an average of 20.31. With these stats in mind, and now that Stuart Broad and James Anderson are beginning to come to the end of their respective careers, the time has come to make Robinson the spearhead of England’s attack in time for the Ashes.

Of course, some will argue that Robinson doesn’t have the required pace to succeed on Australian pitches, but during England’s triumphant Ashes win in 2010/2011, none of their bowlers bowled much faster than 85 mph. Indeed, contrary to what has always been the accepted wisdom when it comes to taking wickets on Australian pitches, the real secret ingredient is line and length with devastating bounce, something that Robinson has in spades.

Revealingly, there are only two other bowlers in world cricket at the moment who have a higher release point than Robinson and they are Jason Holder and Kyle Jamieson. In other words, there are only a couple of bowlers in the whole of world cricket that can extract more bounce than Robinson.

What’s impressed you the most about Ollie Robinson’s bowling? ?

??????? #ENGvIND ??

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 6, 2021

Despite his being the case, the 27-year-old doesn’t only rely on his bouncer or over-bowl at any stage. Instead, Robinson is able to vary his length and keep the batman unsure as to whether they should get onto the front foot or go back into the crease to defend. The results so far have been incredibly impressive and this is why England need to come up with an Ashes strategy that revolves around Robinson’s brilliance with the ball.
Perhaps most crucially above all is that the Australians wouldn’t have faced Robinson yet and will therefore know very little about the 27-year-old Sussex quick. Indeed, England shouldn’t be shy when it comes to releasing their secret weapon against the old foe in the winter, after all, it’s their one hope of winning an Ashes series that they are predicted to lose.