England's Ollie Robinson has come under fire from former Australian greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting for needling the Aussies in the Ashes opener at Edgbaston.
During England's nail-biting two-wicket loss, Robinson was more than willing to spout off at Australia both on and off the field. He sent out Usman Khawaja with an expletive before defending his actions in a press conference, where he asked, “If you can’t handle that, what can you handle?”
READ: Ollie Robinson's outburst with Usman Khawaja
What did Matthew Hayden say about Ollie Robinson?
Speaking on SEN Radio, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden took a swipe at Robinson for his behaviour during the match and pointed out that the Aussies should take him to the cleaners because of his lack of pace.
“The other bloke, he’s a forgettable cricketer. A fast bowler that is bowling 124km/h nude nuts, and he’s got a mouth from the south. Someone like him, you can just go: ‘Brother, I’m coming at ya.’ Davey Warner can do that, right. He can just say: ‘You’re bowling 120.’”
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What did Ricky Ponting say about Ollie Robinson?
Appearing on the ICC Review Podcast, the former Australian captain didn't mince his words either.
“If he is sitting back thinking about me, then no wonder he bowled like the way that he did in that game, if he’s worried about what I did 15 years ago.
“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. If Ollie Robinson hasn’t learned that already after last week, then he’s a slow learner.
“He’ll learn pretty quickly that if you’re going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills.”
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