Robinson more likely to stick around
Thursday saw the Ashes debut of Richie Robinson, the new Headingley groundsman and second person of that name for whom this fixture has proved notable. The first played the last of his three Tests for Australia here in 1977, where England wrapped up the series and the Guardian’s John Arlott described him as “an invariably game but unsophisticated batsman” who “is simply not a batsman at international level”.
Australia’s selectors concurred: his second-innings, 96-ball 20 was his final knock for his country, his performances across the series so undistinguished that they caused massive ructions in his own squad – Kerry O’Keeffe questioned Robinson’s selection so vehemently that in the end he never played for Australia again either.
Happily the new Richie Robinson is not just more likely than his namesake to stick around but quite possibly a better batter as well – with 17,476 runs at 40.27 he is the all-time leading run-scorer in the Bradford League.
Agnew dresses to impress for Southgate
Gareth Southgate was the lunchtime guest on Test Match Special, a visit for which his inquisitor, Jonathan Agnew, came specially dressed. “I was walking through Leeds yesterday and I thought: ‘That chap Gareth Southgate, he’s the bloke with the waistcoats,’” Agnew explained. “And there in the window of an old shop in town they had a rack of waistcoats in a sale.” Unable to ignore such serendipity, Agnew duly blew £30 – unusual BBC expenses claim ahoy – and donned his fresh formalwear for the interview only for Southgate to turn up in a standard, and entirely waistcoat-free, two-piece suit.
Carey stumped by cash demand
Also wandering around Leeds on the day before the match was a group of Australia players, who ducked into a barber’s for a haircut. They were duly trimmed, but things turned awkward when they realised the establishment only accepted cash payment. Most of them were happy to oblige but Alex Carey, having no money on him, was well and truly stumped. Carey was of course the pantomime villain of Sunday’s shenanigans at Lord’s – in dismissing him for just eight on Thursday, England made him pay for that, but by all accounts the barber is still waiting.
Stokes upholds coin toss status
Ben Stokes won another toss, remaining on course to become the 13th man to win every coin-flip in a five-match Test series, and his overall record of 10 successful tosses in 17 matches gives him a statistically unlikely 58.8% win ratio. This makes him the luckiest England captain since … the last one, Joe Root having won 59.4% of his 64 Test tosses.
But successful tossers don’t necessarily make successful captains: of all England skippers to win at least 10 tosses the most unlucky was Mike Brearley, who despite winning only 41.9% of his flips won an outstanding 58.1% of his games. Meanwhile Bob Wyatt won an astonishing 75% of his tosses and converted that to a win ratio of 18.75%. So, to summarise, it’s a funny old game.
