The mystery surrounding Ollie Robinson’s fitness rumbles on after the England seamer was once again forced to watch from the sidelines due to stiffness in his back.
Robinson, 28, was due to face New Zealand for the County Select XI in Chelmsford but pulled out of the four-day match before the toss on Thursday with a recurrence of the problem that led to him missing all three Tests in the Caribbean in March.
Having been similarly plagued with conditioning problems that resulted in him aborting three spells during the Ashes, England’s medical team must establish whether Robinson has a serious underlying problem or a form of performance-related anxiety is now at play.
Either way it shrinks Robinson’s prospects of featuring in the three-match Test series that gets under way at Lord’s next Thursday and a further blow for the national team given long-term injuries to Saqib Mahmood, Jofra Archer and Matthew Fisher.
All three have been ruled out for the season due to stress fractures of the lower back – an early sign of which is often stiffness in the same area – while Mark Wood is also unlikely to play long-form cricket until the end of the summer after elbow surgery.
Robinson’s latest setback is particularly galling after a bright start to his Test career that returned 28 wickets at 19 runs apiece last summer and raised hopes of a new-ball specialist to take over from Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in the long term.
It also led to him being named one of Wisden’s cricketers of the year last month. In the accompanying interview he admitted to renewed fitness goals following a public dressing down from Jon Lewis, England’s bowling coach, in Hobart in January.
Robinson said: “I know I need to be fitter to maintain spells at my ideal pace of 82, 83mph. I get that little bit more off the wicket. If I can do that consistently for five days, instead of being 80, 81 the first two days, then 78 the last few, it would mean batters don’t feel they are getting as much relief.”
That Robinson has been ruled out of the match in Chelmsford entirely – and replaced by Ethan Bamber in the squad – is a clear concern. The four-day affair is not first-class, meaning he could have featured for the County Select XI later on in proceedings.
Nottinghamshire’s Liam Patterson-White was the County Select XI’s most dangerous bowler in Robinson’s absence, taking three wickets as New Zealand finished the day on 298 for eight. Matt Henry impressed for the tourists, scoring an unbeaten 65 from just 67 balls, while Daryl Mitchell chipped in with 58.
In the Vitality Blast, Paul Stirling smashed a debut century as Birmingham Bears started their campaign with a 125-run defeat of Northamptonshire. Stirling made 119 from 51 balls including 34 runs from one over, hitting 10 sixes and nine fours to help his new side to 207 for three in a 16-over innings reduced by rain. The Birmingham spinners Jake Lintott and Danny Briggs then continued a miserable day for their opponents, with the former taking three for 19 and the latter three for 21 as Northamptonshire were bowled out for 81.
The Middlesex captain, Stevie Eskinazi, scored 87 from 37 balls to give his side the edge over Gloucestershire. Eoin Morgan also thumped 41 from 24 balls as the hosts finished on 229 for nine, and while Benny Howell’s impressive 46 from 20 deliveries gave Gloucestershire hope, they could only finish on 199 for nine.
In the other two games, Glamorgan recorded a seven-wicket run at Sussex Sharks, while Paul Coughlin took four wickets and scored 42 in Durham’s victory over Leicestershire Foxes.
