The Ashes 2023

Naseer Hussain defends Ollie Robinson’s send-off to Usman Khawaja during 1st Test of Ashes 2023

Sports media organisations have concentrated heavily on the Edgbaston Test incident in which England bowler Ollie Robinson sent out Usman Khawaja. Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, has now urged the English seamer to block out distractions and concentrate solely about his on-field performance. Hussain said, Robinson made a mistake by including Ponting’s name in the discussion.

Hussain spoke on the podcast of the apex cricket council about how it has become a big issue and how this is not the first time it has happened. He said, “He’s not the first cricketer to give someone a send-off in an Ashes battle, and there’s a few Aussies that have given send-offs over the years.”

I’ve sort of enjoyed the to-ing and fro-ing from Ricky: Naseer Hussain

The former England skipper then discussed how everyone talked to Ricky Ponting the night Ollie Robinson included him in the send-off comment. He said, “I’ve sort of enjoyed the to-ing and fro-ing from Ricky. We had Ricky working with us at Sky (Sky Sports), and the WhatsApp group was going ballistic that night… of all the Australians Ollie Robinson could mention, he mentioned Ricky. Our WhatsApp group was very, very funny that night and I can’t tell you some of Ricky’s responses.”

Hussain then spoke about what advice he would have given Ollie Robinson if he still was the England captain. He said, “I wouldn’t be saying anything to Ollie Robinson (if I was England captain), apart from which end would you like to bowl and show us your skills.”

Naseer Hussain concluded by saying that he would love to have a word with the media people about how the other players also need to be covered. He said, “But I might be having a word with the media guy and saying I’m hearing too much from Ollie Robinson off the field, and we have ten other cricketers that can do the press and the media. The problem nowadays are the various outlets he might be writing or doing one of the websites you get asked by various media outlets and then that’s magnified on social media.”