England pacer Ollie Robinson regretted taking a shot at Australian great Ricky Ponting during the Ashes 2023. He said mentioning the former Australian captain in the press conference was not the smartest thing he did in his career.
Ollie Robinson was one of the most talked about names during Ashes 2023. He grabbed the headlines with his antics during the series. He was widely criticized when he aggressively dismissed Usman Khawaja, who walked off the field after scoring a big century.
Ollie Robinson, while talking about that farewell, made a brutal statement. He said he had done nothing wrong and even the Australians were doing the same, citing the example of former captain Ricky Ponting. This caused a lot of people and Pacer to receive a lot more criticism.
Following his statements, Ollie Robinson received a lot of criticism from great Australians such as Michael Clarke and Matthew Hayden. The pacer was on the radar throughout the series and his performances were also not good.
Ollie Robinson, while talking about comments he made about Ricky Ponting, said he thought it was funny that Australians were targeting him. While talking about the entire incident to ESPNCricinfo, he narrated:
“Looking back, mentioning Ricky Ponting at a press conference was not the smartest thing to do. But I’ve watched a lot of cricket, I’ve seen a lot of them do the same thing to their opponents. I just thought it was so funny that they then got stuck on me for the same thing they used to do.
“I remember waking up that week and people were texting me saying, ‘Oh, Matt Hayden said this, [Adam] Gilchrist said this, Fox Sports has said it. “Every morning someone else would come out of the woodwork and take their 20p. But I enjoy that sort of thing, I feel like it really motivates me.”
You say something, someone makes fun of nothing: Ollie Robinson on his ‘three number 11’ comments
During that series, Ollie Robinson also made a comment about Australian tailenders. He said the opposition had three number 11s in Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland and Josh Hazlewood. However, the comment backfired for three pacers as Cummins and Lyon added 55 runs to take the team home.
While talking about those comments, Ollie Robinson said he doesn’t regret making them. He elaborated:
“Even the number 11 thing: you say something, someone makes fun of nothing and you look like a genius. Or they hit the winning runs and you look like a fool. But it’s one of those things: you take the risk. If it comes off, it comes off. If not, he raises his hands. I just felt like that press conference was the right thing to say at that time. “Really, the only thing you can do is say what you feel at that moment.”
Ollie Robinson will next be seen in action when England take on India in the five-match Test series in India. The series between the teams will begin from January 25.