What You Do At County Level Is Not Going To Cut It At International Level, Gillespie Tells Ollie Robinson

Former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has asked England pacer Ollie Robinson to find the fitness for bowling all day in Test cricket. He added that Robinson was not lazy but agreed bowling in Test cricket is a step up from the levels of the County Championship.

"He manages his length very well, can adjust it seamlessly, uses the crease appropriately and can move the ball into and away from both left and right handers. But England are not after a bowler who bowls just one excellent opening spell. They want someone who is able to repeat it again and again. And that is what they have challenged him to do after he suffered a back spasm in this final Ashes Test," wrote Gillespie in his column for Daily Mail.

Gillespie's comments come after England bowling coach Jon Lewis confirmed that Robinson had back spasm during day one of pink-ball Ashes Test at Hobart, due to which he didn't bowl in the last two sessions.

Lewis had even suggested Robinson must work hard to maintain fitness levels required in Test cricket.

"But there was no doubting when England's bowling coach Jon Lewis addressed the media on Friday that he was providing a thinly-veiled dig in his direction. He gave him what I like to call a proper clip. There was a bit of frustration in both Jon's body language and voice, and it was clear that it has been made plain to Ollie a number of times that he needs to do the work and acknowledge and understand that it is a step up to Test cricket from county cricket," added Gillespie, who played 71 Tests for Australia.

Gillespie pointed out the drop in Robinson's pace after every bowling spell in the ongoing Ashes despite playing one match more than Stuart Broad.

"His wickets in the series have come at under 24 at the time of writing, yet one thing that has been noticeable is that his pace has dropped with each spell. I don't think he's been lazy by any stretch but what you do at county level is not going to cut it at international level."

He signed off by giving his own example from his bowling days. "England will want to see a positive response from Ollie now but, as I can attest, it takes a lot of physical work to succeed as a Test bowler. Aerobic fitness didn't come naturally to me, it was something I had to work incredibly hard at and I put a lot of time and effort into it.

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"You need the power to be able to bowl at a fast pace, but you also need to develop the body's core to back it up later in the day and the day after. There is no substitute for hard work in that regard."