With the prospect of a result effectively out of the question, Robinson turned to off-spin for six deliveries. Just 18 wickets fell across the four days, following a similar pattern to the previous matches held at Lord’s this seaosn. This was the fourth County Championship match of the year at the Home of Cricket, three of which have seen fewer than 20 wickets fall across the match.

Robinson, who prior to the season described this summer as “make or break” for his international career, finished the match with figures of 1-77 from 30 overs. He was not the only international seamer to struggle to take wickets as his new-ball partner, West Indies quick Jayden Seales, finished with similar figures of 1-79 off 23 overs.

Robinson has had a decent start to the summer, averaging 27 with the ball in Division Two where results have been at a premium. On the most recent episode of the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, CricViz analyst Ben Jones explained that Robinson’s underlying data for the season has been impressive.

This is not the first time Robinson has bowled off-spin in professional match. He famously bowled a short spell of off-spin on England’s previous Ashes tour Down Under and he has previously claimed that his first-class record bowling off-spin is better than his numbers bowling seam.

You can watch Ollie Robinson bowl off-spin below:

Alert. Sussex’s Ollie Robinson is bowling spin. pic.twitter.com/9hvV6lSW3q

— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) May 27, 2024