Robinson's rhythmic mastery echoes McGrath as England's bowling renaissance takes shape

Ollie Robinson has taken 23 wickets across three matches this summer, a run of form that has quietly reshaped how people think about England's bowling attack. The 32-year-old fast bowler was dropped, recalled, dropped again, and is now back—a cycle that might have broken a lesser player. But nothing about Robinson's fundamental gift has changed: he bowls with the kind of rhythmic precision that calls to mind Glenn McGrath, the Australian great whose every delivery seemed to emerge from the same groove, the same perfect wrist position, the same unhurried arc.

What makes Robinson exceptional is not just his action, though that is genuinely beautiful to watch. He reads the game with unusual sharpness. He spots a batsman's weakness and translates it into his own tactical response almost instantly. Early in his England career, teammates noticed he would talk through dismissals with them, already thinking three steps ahead. This combination—the grooved technique and the tactical mind—is what separates a good bowler from one who can carry conditions around in his cricket bag and make them work.

This summer's conditions have been perfect for him, and he has made the most of them. Whatever movement he has asked the ball to produce—swing in, swing out, seam wobble—it has arrived. He has not needed to hunt for wickets; they have come naturally. For a bowler, there is no better feeling than that kind of rhythm, when the ball simply flows from the fingertips and does what you ask.

But Robinson's resurgence owes something unexpected to Australia. During the recent Ashes series, Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey stood up to the stumps against pace bowlers, a tactic that seemed almost quaint in modern cricket. England has now adopted it, with Jamie Smith crouching close behind the stumps when Robinson bowls. This small shift changes everything. When the keeper stands back, modern batsmen walk down the pitch to meet the ball. With Smith up close, that becomes a stumping risk. Robinson can now bowl a yard fuller, giving his deliveries more time to swing through the air. More of his balls hit the stumps rather than sailing over from a shorter length. Smith, who struggled badly during the Ashes, has improved his glovework considerably, working with wicketkeeping coach Sarah Taylor on drills where she fires tennis balls at him with a racket, forcing him to stay low and react.

The question now is whether Robinson can repeat this success on harder, flatter pitches or in heat—the conditions he will face during England's winter tour of South Africa. Robinson has often been left out of Tests on batter-friendly surfaces, but he has earned the right to play through. England is working to keep his pace steady around 82 miles per hour rather than letting it drop from there to 77 or 78, which would give him the extra bounce needed to compensate for reduced movement.

There is also the matter of how Robinson was handled. He was dropped from the Ashes squad last winter amid talk of a breakdown in trust with Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum, and managing director Rob Key, who prioritized faster bowlers. Robinson has had fitness issues at various points, and bowling coach Jon Lewis called that out publicly in 2022. Perhaps he was not treated as kindly as he might have been. Perhaps last winter's omission focused his mind. Whatever the reason, Joe Root is now reaping the rewards.

England's new pace attack—Robinson, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, and Josh Tongue—has shown real promise. They do not have a frontline spinner, but Robinson, who conceded runs at just 1.29 per over during the Lord's Test, can effectively hold the line a slow bowler would. The instruction now should be simple: do not rest any of them for the third Test at Edgbaston. England has just come through a poor run. They need to keep winning, and this group needs to bowl together, to learn each other's rhythms, to let Root figure out how to use each of them best. This is England's best attack. Breaking it up now would be a mistake.