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It is not difficult to picture a scenario in which England’s Ollie Robinson spent Wednesday getting ready to spearhead the team’s attack at The Oval against Sri Lanka. Rather, he led Sussex’s drive into T20 Blast Finals Day at a packed Hove, first with the ball and then in the field with a pinpoint run-out of Liam Livingstone, all with a few weeks remaining on his central contract.
It is not hard to imagine a world in which Ollie Robinson spent Wednesday preparing to lead England’s attack against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Instead, with weeks left to run on his central contract, he spearheaded Sussex’s charge into T20 Blast Finals Day at a sold-out Hove – first with the ball, and then in the field with a bullseye run-out of Liam Livingstone.
Despite Buttler’s absence, Lancashire fielded seven internationals against Sussex’s five, but they were completely outmatched, with Robinson playing a key role. He took the pitch with the opening ball of the contest, bowled Phil Salt with an in-ducker off his pad. In the seventh over, he yorked Keaton Jennings after being hit over mid-on for two sixes. The surface was new and grassy.
Livingstone grabbed control of the game after dismissing Jennings for 37, which set off a slow-motion collapse of 5 for 14 in four overs. He twice crushed Mills over square leg and lofted Jofra Archer over long off. On 43, though, Robinson’s direct hit sent him reeling after he had steered to short third and stretched at full stretch to establish his ground.
After Archer altered Saqib Mahmood’s stumps in his first Blast match since 2021, Lancashire was bowled out for a meagre 114, the lowest first-inning score at Hove in eight years. While spinners James Coles and Jack Carson kept the brakes on in the middle, Brad Currie hit twice with his inswingers, but Robinson was the star.
Robinson seemed to be the natural successor to Stuart Broad, who announced his retirement at the conclusion of the Ashes series last year. Rather, he has only participated in one Test match since, delivering 13 wicketless overs in Ranchi while having a back problem. Robinson has disappeared, despite Mark Wood’s injury and James Anderson retiring after Broad.
In any case, this was a good performance: Robinson demonstrated his abilities to york Jennings, bowled with a respectable pace on a pitch that was obviously helpful. In addition to his 30 Championship wickets at 28.16, he has 18 Blast wickets at 20.38 this season. He will be excited to take the pitch on Finals Day next Saturday.
Just two years prior, they had won four out of fourteen Twenty20 matches and were second last in the County Championship with just one victory during the season. They now have two games left to win the Blast title and three games left to secure promotion in the Championship.