‘They've got three No. 11s’ - Ollie Robinson reflects on England’s bouncer attack against Australian tailenders

There were a lot of things to talk about from Australia’s first innings with the bat in the Edgbaston Test of the Ashes 2023. From Usman Khawaja’s mammoth knock to Robinson’s send-off to the 36-year-old. However, one of the things to discuss could be England quickly skimming through Australia’ tailenders in the first innings.

The Aussies were 372/6 at one point of the game; however, they lost their remaining four wickets for just 14 runs. Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, and Pat Cummins were all dismissed on short balls.

Reflecting on England’s bouncer barrage on the Australian tailenders, pacer Ollie Robinson commented on the minimal contribution by the lower-order batters of Australia. He opined that it was something that they talked about as a group and even stated that England feels like Australia has three No. 11s.

"It's something we spoke about as a group. We said once we get past Cummins, we feel like they've got three No. 11s. It's something that we can target through the series and try and wrap up their innings quite quick and try and give us that momentum into our batting innings," Ollie Robinson said in a press conference after the end of day’s play as quoted by cricket.com.au.

"I think it's pitch dependent, really. Obviously, Pat Cummins is a really good player and I think we felt like bowling full to their tail would give them a chance to maybe score some more runs, so it's a wicket ploy, but also it's harder to score when it's two-paced," he added.

Australia were bundled out for 386 runs as England maintained a slender lead of seven runs into the second innings. However, the Ben Stokes-led side got off to the worst of starts in the second innings as both openers fell prey to Australia’s pace attack. 

Zak Crawley was dismissed by Scott Boland for seven runs, whereas Ben Duckett fell prey to Pat Cummins. By the end of Day 3, England were 28/2 with Joe Root and Ollie Pope at the crease.