London: Fast bowler Ollie Robinson believes the way England have been on a huge upswing in playing Test cricket since last year, they can fancy their chances of winning the Ashes comfortably at home.
Head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes have led England to 10 wins in 12 Tests since taking over early last year on the back of an aggressive style playing the longest format of the game.
However, England’s next big assignment in Tests will be playing in the Ashes, starting from June 16 at Edgbaston, with a bright chance of regaining the urn for the first time since 2015.
“I think the cricket we’re playing at the moment makes it such an exciting time to play them. We’ve been dominating teams in all conditions for 12 months now. In England we dominated, in Pakistan we dominated and in New Zealand we played most of the cricket for nine days and lost on the last day because we probably weren’t quite there.
“But I think the way we’re playing cricket; we feel like we can really stick one on them and win the series comfortably. There’s definitely a desire there still, a hunger to put it right. I felt when I got back from that trip I didn’t leave it all out there and I’d let myself down and the side down a little bit.
So it’s definitely something I want to put right and there’s a few fellas in that position as well. So there’s a lot of hungry boys this summer to beat the Aussies again,” Robinson was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo to reporters in England.
Robinson, who shrugged off fitness levels concerns to be back in the Test team, is scheduled to play three to four County Championship games for Sussex. Also joining him in the side will be Australia batter Steve Smith, who will have a three-game stint in May as part of preparation for the World Test Championship final and Ashes.
“It’ll be good to have him here. For county cricket it’s great to have Steve Smith at Sussex. For myself, it’s not going to change a huge amount. I’ll prepare the same way. I might get a better look at him in the nets,” the pacer said.
“I might not bowl at him to be honest. We’ll see how it goes. But we had (Cheteshwar) Pujara here last summer and we played India and I bowled at him a lot. I don’t read too much into it. He’s a good player, he’s going to get runs whether I bowl at him here or not. It’s one of those things,” he added.
IANS