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Former Australia cricketer and commentator Mathew Hayden has criticised English pacer Ollie Robinson. Robinson was criticised for his outburst targeted towards Australian opener Usman Khawaja after his dismissal in the first Test of the ongoing Ashes in Edgbaston. Khawaja scored 141 during Australia’s first innings in the match and batted for more than a day and half before Robinson dismissed him. Robinson used foul words after dismissing the Australian opener, which didn’t go well with several former Australian cricketers, including Hayden.
Hayden labelled Robinson as a ‘forgettable cricketer’ during his conversation with the former Australian cricketer Ian Healy. Not on ly this, but the cricketer-turned-commentator openly criticised Robinson for his actions. On ‘Sen Radio’ , Hayden said, "That's how you combat England as well. As soon as Pat Cummins started coming at Joe Root and hit a couple of sixes…then the other bloke (Robinson), he is a forgettable cricketer. He added, “A fast bowler that is bowling 124 kmph and he’s got a mouth from the south.”
Notably, Hayden is not the only cricketer who criticised Robinson for his action. Ricky Ponting also slammed the right-arm pacer and called him a ‘slow learner’. In an ICC Review, Ponting said, "As I said after Ollie Robinson said what he said, this England cricket team hasn't played against Australia, and they'll find out pretty quickly what playing Ashes cricket and playing against a good Australian cricket team is all about. And if Ollie Robinson hasn't learned that already after last week, then he's a slow learner.”
However, the England pacer said that he doesn’t care about the criticism and said that such confrontations were inevitable in such high-stacked matches. Not only this, but he also said that Khawaja had played brilliantly, which made the wicket more critical for the team. Robinson is not bothered about how his actions were perceived.
