"We felt like we were always going to get the job done" - Ollie Robinson on Stuart Broad's fairytale ending
England pacer Ollie Robinson feels one of the main reasons that the hosts were motivated to win the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval, apart from Stuart Broad's retirement, was the drawn Manchester Test. Despite England being in the driver's seat, most of the play on the final two days was washed out as rain played spoilsport.
Although Australia ended up retaining the Ashes, the hosts denied them a series win on their soil yet again. Veteran pacer Stuart Broad picked up the final two wickets before calling time on a glorious international career.
In his column for Wisden, here's what Ollie Robinson wrote about England's win at The Oval:
"Everyone was on edge with the rain over the last two days, we were desperate to draw the series and give Broady the farewell he deserved. Once we started so quickly on the Monday we felt like we were always going to get the job done and it was just amazing to send a legend of the game off in that way."
Ollie Robinson also opened up on how Stuart Broad announced to his teammates that he was going to retire after the fifth Ashes Test. He wrote:
"Stuart first told us on Saturday morning. He started off by resigning as chairman from ‘Pig’ – a keepy uppies football game we play. He was chairman and he’d decide who got the letters at what time and if there were disagreements he would have the last say.
"He started his retirement chat saying, 'It’s been a long time serving so many of you boys playing Pig,' and I think a few lads were thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ and then he said, 'This is going to be my last game of cricket.'
Ollie Robinson on his friendship with Stuart Broad
Ollie Robinson shares a great camaraderie with Stuart Broad and claimed that the former England pacer always made sure he was there for his mates whenever they had something to say.
On this, he stated:
"Broady is someone that you might not see as the most emotional character but you know that he cares about you because of the effort he puts in. I spoke to him about a few things; we’d have a conversation and I wouldn’t hear from him, or we wouldn’t talk about it for a few days, and then he’d come back and tell me he’d be thinking about me and that he’d been thinking about the problem in a certain way."
Broad finished his career with 604 Test wickets, the fifth on the list of all-time wicket-takers.