Ollie Robinson’s recall to the England Test squad for the three-match series against New Zealand starting at Lord’s on 12 June marks the end of a 24-Test exile that has stretched back to the 2023 Ashes. The 32-year-old Sussex seamer, whose last appearance in a white shirt came at The Oval in July 2023, says the months since have stripped his game back to its foundations and restored something he feared he had lost.
“I’ve fallen back in love with the game,” Robinson said at Hove on Wednesday, hours after head coach Brendon McCullum confirmed his inclusion in a 14-man squad. “I was at a point 18 months ago where I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep doing this. Now I can’t wait to get to Lord’s. I’m ready to put in the hard work — that’s the bit I’d forgotten about.”
The road back through county cricket
Robinson’s return is built on numbers that demanded selectorial attention. In the County Championship this summer he has taken 38 wickets at 17.4 across seven matches for Sussex, including a career-best 8-54 against Durham at Chester-le-Street in April and back-to-back five-wicket hauls against Worcestershire and Glamorgan. His average since the start of 2025 — 19.2 across all first-class cricket — is the best of any English seamer over 30 in that period.
The path has not been linear. Robinson was dropped during the 2023 Ashes after struggling for pace and rhythm, and a stress fracture of the back kept him out for the bulk of the following winter. A loan spell with Hobart Hurricanes in last year’s Big Bash, where he conceded just 6.8 runs an over across nine matches, was the turning point he points to publicly. Privately, the bigger shift came after conversations with Sussex bowling coach James Kirtley about his action, which had drifted into a chest-on position that cost him both swing and accuracy.
“James filmed every spell I bowled for six weeks in the winter,” Robinson said. “I’d never watched myself bowl that closely. I could see I was falling away. Fixing that has given me back four or five miles an hour and the wobble-seam ball that used to be my stock delivery.”
What England need from him
Robinson rejoins an attack in transition. James Anderson’s retirement after last summer’s Test against West Indies left a vacuum for a bowler who can hold a length and build pressure across long spells — exactly the role Robinson filled at his peak, when he averaged 22.9 in his first 20 Tests. With Chris Woakes managing a calf complaint and Mark Wood being protected for the Ashes that begin in Brisbane on 21 November, England’s selectors have prioritised reliability over raw pace.
McCullum was direct about the reasoning. “Olly bowls the ball you want in your hand at Lord’s, at Headingley, at Edgbaston,” he said. “He hits the seam, he hits a length, and when the Dukes is doing something he makes batters play at 95 per cent of his deliveries. We haven’t had enough of that since he was last in the side.”
The numbers behind that judgement are stark. Since Robinson last played a Test, England’s seamers have averaged 36.4 in home conditions — the worst figure for any England attack in a home summer since 2010. Restoring a bowler whose career economy rate of 2.74 is the lowest of any England seamer with 50-plus wickets this century addresses a specific structural weakness.
Lord’s, the Ashes and what comes next
Selection for the New Zealand series is, in McCullum’s framing, a starting point rather than a destination. The real prize is a seat on the plane to Australia in November, where England have not won a Test series since 2010-11. Robinson has never toured Australia in a Test capacity, and the Kookaburra ball has historically been unkind to swing bowlers, but his improved pace and the wobble-seam delivery he has rebuilt at Sussex give him a credible case.
The immediate priorities, though, are narrower:
- Bowl the new ball in tandem with Gus Atkinson at Lord’s, where Robinson took 7-50 on Test debut against New Zealand in June 2021
- Hold his length in the third spell — the area McCullum identified as the weakness that cost him his place in 2023
- Get through three Tests in 18 days without a recurrence of the back issues that have shaped his last two years
Robinson, for his part, is refusing to look beyond Thursday week. “I’ve learned not to plan five steps ahead,” he said. “Lord’s first. Bowl well. Then we’ll see.”
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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