England quick Ollie Robinson has injected spice into the build-up to the opening Test of the Ashes, claiming “the Aussie chat is horrendous”.
The ugly dramas engulfing both camps – the Yorkshire racism row hanging over England, and the Tim Paine sexting saga and captaincy resignation hampering Australia – have taken a great amount of ferocity out of the customary pre-Ashes slanging match.
But Robinson’s jibe about Australia’s sledging has intensified the relationship between the two camps three days out from the Brisbane Test, set to begin on Wednesday.
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Robinson revealed in an interview with ESPNCricinfo that Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood and former Test paceman Trent Copeland had helped him hone his craft in Sydney grade cricket.
But the right-armer, who’s hoping to add to his five Tests, said he had no interest in getting advice on sledging from any of Australia’s players.
“The Aussie chat is pretty horrendous if I’m honest, so not really,” Pope told ESPNCricinfo.
“I don’t think me as a person could keep my head down if I tried. I’m definitely going to be trying to get under their skins and try and unsettle them as it were, batters and bowlers.
“If I can get them off their rhythm then we’re winning, so it’s something you’ll definitely see and hopefully we will come out on top.”
England’s Ashes preparation has not only been rocked by Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations, but the touring party’s quarantine period on the Gold Coast and torrential rain, which reduced their slated seven days of intra-squad practice to two and a bit days of net sessions.
But Robinson argued that England had had a better lead-up to the first Test than Australia, who remained in the United Arab Emirates for longer than the Poms as they went on their World Cup-winning charge. England were eliminated in a semi-final loss to New Zealand.
“It’s obviously not ideal preparation but, as a group, we feel we’ve made do with what we’ve been given,” Robinson said.
“We feel in a good place, and we feel ahead of the Aussies, which is the main thing. They were at the World Cup and in quarantine, so they are probably a few weeks behind us. We feel like we have some good work in us since being here and hopefully that will give us the edge in the first Test.”
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