JOE WILLIAMS AT HOVE: It was an impressive outing, posing a threat throughout. With a bit more luck, he would have had more than one wicket to his name
Day two of the County Championship match between Sussex and Yorkshire saw Ollie Robinson take to the field for the first time this season.
With just under two months until the Ashes start at Edgbaston on June 16, this was Robinson's first appearance on English soil this year.
His bowling performance being most pertinent, let's not dwell on the two balls he faced with the bat in the morning – the second of which he guided to Adam Lyth at slip for an easy catch.
However, Robinson must have been licking his lips watching what Ben Coad could do with the new ball when he took 4 for 16 in the morning session.
The 28-year-old looked to get the breakthrough early on, and on another day maybe he might have done. Robinson troubled Finlay Bean, but it was his own teammates who held his ire, with Ali Orr twice dropping catches at leg-slip off the England man.
The England bowler's frustration grew as Fynn Hudson-Prentice let a ball run for through his legs in the field to allow Yorkshire to run two. It was not the start that Robinson would have wanted.
Robinson bowled George Hill on Friday (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
While he could look at his teammates at the start, he could only look at himself for what happened next. Three no-balls followed in the next two overs. A frustrating end to his first stint.
Dawid Malan was in by the time Robinson was given the ball for his second spell. The England red-ball regular against the white-ball star in what promised to be an intriguing battle.
Robinson had the bit between his teeth, screaming for an lbw as Malan scrambled for a single with the umpire waving the appeals away.
The cat and mouse continued with Malan finding the boundary twice in succession.
But he finished with tight disciplined overs that Shai Hope and George Hill played in circumspect fashion.
But however much Hill wanted to defend, he had no chance with Robinson's last ball of the day. The ball found the gap between bat and pad taking out the stumps as they glistened in the evening sunlight.
The last ball got him his reward as he eased his way back onto the county circuit following a winter touring Pakistan and New Zealand.
It was an impressive outing, posing a threat throughout. With a bit more luck, he would have had more than one wicket to his name. There is a lot of cricket to play between now and June, but Robinson has started strong.
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