Ollie Robinson: You just knew that Woody was too quick for them; his pace has blown the series wide open

Headingley, what a game. Everything about it – the match, the result, what it means for the series – was massive. We’ve been talking things up a lot, we know that. Maybe too much! We all needed that result, just to settle ourselves down.

In the first two games we were a bit too tense. We were guilty of trying almost too hard to get that win. Look at how we’ve played in the 12 months before this series, we’ve been quite carefree in our approach, and I think in the first two games we probably tried to force things to go our way. Whereas at Headingley, knowing it was all on the line, it cleared our minds to play how we wanted to play, and how we’ve been playing for the last year. And the way it happened was so fitting, with Woakesy and Woody both coming back into the side. It couldn’t have worked out better to keep the series alive.

I’ve never seen a spell like Woody’s on that first morning. I was at mid-off to start with, and first few balls, I thought, “Jeez, that looks pretty quick…” He carried on through the over, finished the job, and then someone ran past me from slip and said that they were standing past my bowling mark, which is 22-and-a-half metres back! After the first over I went to fine leg, and I was standing no more than 15 yards behind Johnny, thinking, literally, ‘This is the fastest thing I’ve ever seen’. It was crazy. I felt like if they hit it more than a metre either side of me it was a certain boundary, and the fact he was consistently getting the shape and movement on it as well – at that speed – was just unbelievable bowling. It was just amazing to watch and be a part of. Though not so amazing for the batters, I’d imagine…

Against pace like that, you pick up little quirks from batters that you don’t normally get, and as bowlers, I think we pick up on it more. There was one ball that Marnus [Labuschagne] played, and after it he had a sort of wry, awkward smile on his face. And he was trying to give off the persona that everything’s fine, when it’s really not, because someone’s bowling 95 miles per hour! You knew it was too quick for him after that.

And even Uzzie [Usman Khawaja], who obviously plays pace really well and has been in such good form, even he struggled with the pace at times. He went from having this quiet persona at the crease to suddenly smiling and joking, trying to give off the feelgood vibes that he was fine. Every batter during that spell was doing the same thing. It was awkwardly fast and awkwardly uncomfortable, and as a batter you’re trying to convey that you’re fine when you’re really not. Us bowlers were saying that if we’d been batting out there, we might just have kicked our poles over…

Woody’s just got this mad, unique energy. There’s no one else like him. You think he’s drunk half the time yet he doesn’t touch a drop. Bear in mind this is a bloke who, 10 minutes before we went out, literally at 10:50am, was on all-fours barking on the changing room floor, going, “There’s a dog in the dressing room. There’s a dog in here, lads…”

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I had a surreal partnership with Stokesy in the first innings. I was on that many painkillers because of my back spasm the day before that I was kind of spaced out! I was so relaxed, so calm, I just remember thinking, “Yeah, cool, I’ll bat with Stokesy for a bit, that’ll be nice…” I’d face a few balls, then he’d whack it out the park, then I’d give him the strike, then he’d hit a few more. It was a lovely half hour! That was the first time I’ve batted with him when he’s on one. He’s very quiet, doesn’t say much, he’s totally zoned in. His eyes have glazed over and you can tell he’s in the moment. It’s amazing to watch.

Second innings I was probably the calmest person in the whole room. I sat in the physio room all day just chilling out. I didn’t even get my pads on when Woakesy went out, I thought, “I’m not gonna be needed here”. I just felt like we were always just that bit ahead, and we were never not going to do it.

Some of the lads in the changing room were a mess though. I was going round saying, “Calm down lads, keep the faith, we’ll do this”, but some of them were gone. Cricket and emotions do crazy things to people.

Talking of which, the atmosphere after the drama at Lord’s felt much calmer than I was expecting. It didn’t feel as hostile as I was expecting. But then, at the end of the day, the mood probably calmed down a little bit because the laws are the laws with the Jonny thing, and I can understand both sides. I’m glad it’s settled down, but I’ve no doubt there will be something next week and then the week after! I think that’s just the nature of the series, the smallest moments get spiced up.

I’ve kept saying in these columns how you’ll see us become more aggressive and at Leeds we got back to normal. There were times when we had to absorb pressure – the Aussies bowled well at times and Mitch Marsh played very well in the first innings. But when we batted, especially on that third evening, Zak [Crawley] and Ben [Duckett] just came out and played normally, played their shots and got us off to a flyer, and that’s what we were doing previously. That partnership in the context of the run-chase was massive for us.

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It was so frustrating to get that back spasm on day one. I was really looking forward to bowling on that Headingley pitch and it was coming out nicely, but these things happen. Normally when I’ve had back spasms before, they’ve built up and I would feel it coming on. Whereas this was on landing, it was just a sudden, quick stabbing feeling in the back. I told Stokesy, and he said to get off and see the physio. I think we caught it earlier than I have done in the past. I had some acupuncture, a bit of treatment, and I was fine after that. I was available to bowl on the third day if I’d been needed.

[caption id=”attachment_305509″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] A back spasm meant that Ollie Robinson bowled just 11.2 overs at Headingley[/caption]

The medical team said that’s it’s likely to have happened because I played back-to-back Test matches, and bowled 15 overs of bumpers at Lord’s. So sometimes these things come around, but then they go just as quickly as well. I’m 100 per cent fit for Manchester.

I think the Old Trafford wicket could be similar to Headingley, maybe a little bit drier. I think you might see that covering of grass again. Hopefully it’ll have a bit of carry – it tends to be drier there so it could spin a bit more later on, so Mo [Moeen Ali] will come into play again. I thought he had a great Test match for us, by the way. It should be a good cricket wicket there and I think you’ll see us play in much the same way again. We have to. We know what’s at stake.

It’s a strange feeling to be inside it all. I think when you’re in it, in the build-up and then afterwards when you’re reviewing the game in your head, it’s very hard to get away from it. I think I probably slept for 12-13 hours both nights after the Leeds game. It’s just so emotionally draining, and obviously wearing on the mind and the body. But at the same time, I don’t think any of us would have it any other way.

We’re all saying how exhausted we are but we’re all enjoying and loving it at the same time. I’ve got mates who have never really enjoyed cricket messaging me saying how good it is. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of. It makes me proud to be English to be honest, to see the impact it’s having on people, and seeing them loving what we’re doing. In the end that’s why we play the game. For the glory of it.

Ollie Robinson is writing for Wisden.com throughout the Ashes.