"I didn’t see a lot in it"- Jason Gillespie doesn't look 'negatively' at Ollie Robinson's send-off to Usman Khawaja
Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie doesn't see a whole lot wrong in England pacer Ollie Robinson's send-off to Usman Khawaja and the statements made in the press conference.
While a few former Australian cricketers slammed Robinson for his comments, Gillespie reckoned that things happen on the field in the heat of the moment and felt that's exactly what happened with Robinson.
In a media interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network, here's what Jason Gillespie had to say about Ollie Robinson's comments:
"I will be honest, I didn’t see a lot in it (Ollie Robinson’s comments). I have seen players have conversations with each other all the time on the field. I think why some of the former Australian players criticized Ollie Robinson is essentially he is a new kid on the block and he is having a go at guys. I don’t think Usman Khawaja probably cared that Robinson said something to him. We don’t want to see swearing, but I didn’t look at it as negatively as some other people did."
"He actually played pretty normal cricket" - Jason Gillespie on Joe Root
Jason Gillespie also shed light on how England star batter Joe Root has prospered under the 'Bazball' ideology. He believes Root has got the license to play freely, something that probably was holding him back when he was the Test captain.
On this, Gilespie stated:
"Joe Root has always been the type of player who has tried to innovate and try new things. I think the philosophy of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes and the freedom that they’re giving their players has rubbed off very positively on Joe Root in particular. Yes he played the odd scoop and reverse scoop. But outside of those big shots, he actually just played pretty normal cricket and not pretty outlandish until he got stumped which was the first time in his first class career."
Jason Gillespie interestingly pointed out how captain Ben Stokes played the role of a batter holding an end up during the second innings of the Edgbaston Test, providing an 'evolution' to the ultra-attacking approach. He added:
"I actually saw glimpses of plan B (for Bazball) in the first Test. Look at Ben Stokes’ batting from the second innings. He scored 30-dd runs but faced a lot of balls. He was quite defensive, particularly against Nathan Lyon. That’s where the evolution of Bazball come in. If a bowler is coming in and bowling a really good spell, you can’t just keep throwing your hands at it and keep hitting sixes and fours every ball."
It will be interesting to see if England bring more caution to their Bazball approach after the Edgbaston defeat or whether they go even harder at Australia.