Robinson responds to Smith becoming Sussex teammate ahead of Ashes battle

12 February 2023 , 13:06

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Ollie Robinson and Steve Smith will be teammates at Sussex ahead of the Ashes (Image: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

England bowler Ollie Robinson says he is "excited" at the prospect of being teammates with Australia star Steve Smith after he joined Sussex for a brief stint ahead of this summer's Ashes.

Smith is set to play three County Championship matches against Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Glamorgan in May as part of his preparation for the Ashes. And Robinson says he hopes he can learn "valuable" lessons about how to get Smith out after finding him "awkward to bowl at" in the last Ashes series Down Under.

"People know how I bowl and what I do, so hopefully I can just use it to my advantage," Robinson said when asked about Smith's Sussex stint ahead of England's first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui.

"He changed his technique quite a lot, so any sort of hints or points I can get from him could be valuable to us. I'm excited at the opportunity to play with him.

"Hopefully I can learn a bit more about him. I found him awkward to bowl at at times, so it'd be good to watch him a bit closer and see if I can learn any more about his batting and ways to get him out."

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With 14 Tests now under his belt, Robinson is hoping to emulate veteran star James Anderson, who remains a crucial weapon for captain Ben Stokes despite turning 40 last summer.

Robinson hopes to emulate James Anderson's success in what he believes will be "the biggest year of my career" (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

"That's obviously what I'm going for," he explained. "Try and be economical, let the boys around me with pace sometimes go hard and I'll try and hold the game like we did in Pakistan when Woody [Mark Wood] played.

"That's probably my role and if I can play as many games as possible to help the team that's what I'll do. I think it's probably the biggest year of my career now.

"It's an exciting year and I think with the group and the environment we've got it's going to be amazing. The memories that we're going to create and hopefully the Test match wins we're going to do. I'm really looking forward to it."

Matthew Cooper