Oliver Edward Robinson (born 1 December 1993) is an English professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, having previously played for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. He made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut in 2021, and plays as a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He made a comeback in test cricket against India in th
4th test at Ranchi
after a long break from injury. Robinson holds the unfortunate record for the most expensive over ever bowled in the English County Championship, conceding 43 against Leicestershire in June 2024.

Domestic career

Robinson began his career playing for Margate Cricket Club

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Second XI. After one match of the 2013 season, he left Kent for

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

before playing for

Second XI. He finished the 2013 season with 59 wickets and 1,282 runs in Second XI cricket, and made his first-team

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for Yorkshire in July 2013 against Leicestershire. In October 2013, Robinson signed a professional contract with Yorkshire. After making seven

T20 Blast The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is t ...

appearances for Yorkshire during the 2014 season Robinson was sacked by Yorkshire in July for unprofessional actions, mostly related to poor timekeeping. Later in the 2014 season Robinson made one List A appearance for

. In April 2015,

signed Robinson on a short-term deal, after an injury crisis with bowlers Tymal Mills, James Anyon and Lewis Hatchett all unavailable. Robinson had played a Second XI match for Sussex and was named in the squad for a

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

match the next day against Durham where he made his first-class debut. In the match Robinson, batting at number nine, scored a century in a Sussex record-breaking tenth-wicket partnership with Matt Hobden of 164. In doing so, he became the first Sussex player in 95 years to score a century on their County Championship debut. Robinson took his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

in May 2015 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. In the 2015 season, Robinson took 46 Championship wickets at an average of 24.71, and was nominated for the LV= Breakthrough Player Award and won the Sussex Young Player of the Year award. In October 2015, Robinson signed a new three-year contract with Sussex. In April 2021, Robinson was named Sussex vice-captain in

matches. That month, he took 9 wickets for 78 runs in a County Championship match against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

; it was the best bowling figures by an Englishman since 2016. On 10 June 2021, Robinson announced that he was taking a "short break from the game", with Sussex saying that he would be unavailable for their first two games of the 2021 t20 Blast. In July 2021, Robinson was signed by the Manchester Originals for the 2021 season of The Hundred, as a replacement for Harry Gurney. In April 2022, he was bought by the Manchester Originals for the 2022 season of The Hundred. Playing for Sussex against Leicestershire on 26 June 2024, Robinson conceded 43 runs off one over in what was the most expensive over in the history of the County Championship.

International career

On 29 May 2020, Robinson was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 17 June 2020, he was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the

series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Robinson was named as one of the nine reserve players for the first Test match of the series. He was then named in England's squad for the second Test match of the series, his maiden call-up to the senior team. On 12 August 2020, he was also named in England's squad for the second Test against Pakistan. In December 2020, Robinson was named as one of seven reserve players in England's Test squad for their series against Sri Lanka. In January 2021, he was also named as a reserve player in England's Test squad for their series against India. In May 2021, Robinson was included in England's Test squad for their series against New Zealand. He made his Test debut on 2 June 2021, for England against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. His first Test international wicket was Tom Latham. On the day of his international Test debut, Robinson apologised for making racist and sexist tweets in 2012 and 2013. The

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

(ECB) launched an investigation, on 3 June 2021, to consider whether Robinson should be sanctioned for the tweets. On 6 June 2021, Robinson was removed from the England squad for the second Test match of the series, and suspended from all formats of international cricket by the ECB. Oliver Dowden, the

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Cultu ...

, described the ECB sanctions as "over the top". He asked the ECB to reconsider the suspension, saying: "They are also a decade old and written by a teenager". Later, British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

stated that he agreed with Dowden. On 3 July 2021, Robinson was cleared to return to cricket, following a hearing by the Cricket Discipline Commission. Later the same month, Robinson was named in England's Test squad for their series against India. In the first match, Robinson took his first

in Test cricket, with 5/85. Robinson was England's leading wicket taker in the summer (28 wickets with an average of 19.60); he was named as one of

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

's five cricketers of the year in April 2022.

Personal life

Robinson was educated at

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

. He is coached by his stepfather Paul Farbrace at

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Ollie 1993 births Living people Cricketers from Kent English cricketers England Test cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Hampshire cricketers Sussex cricketers Sportspeople from Margate People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Wisden Cricketers of the Year Trent Rockets cricketers