Meet the other Ollie Robinson who could play for England this summer

Durham’s Ollie Robinson was 12 or 13 and playing in the fourth division of the Kent League when it first became apparent that, on the cricket field, his seemingly unremarkable name was far from that.

“I was playing for Sidcup with my dad,” the wicketkeeper-batsman tells Telegraph Sport. “And someone called the club’s bar to lodge a complaint that we were fielding an ineligible player, thinking I was him.”

“Him” in this case is, of course, the other Ollie Robinson, now of Sussex and England. The pair share a bizarre amount of basic information: the name, the birthday (Dec 1, five years apart), the county of origin (Kent, with Sussex Robinson born in Margate and Durham Robinson in Sidcup), and the line of work, which has unsurprisingly been the source of some confusion.

“That was the first time, and it later clicked that this could become a regular occurrence,” Robinson continues. “There has been a lot on social media, people confuse us – for better and for worse. I’ve probably gained a few followers out of it, but also get tagged in stuff that’s meant for him, which can be interesting...”

The pair played together for England Lions in Australia four years ago, when there was even one case of “caught OG Robinson, bowled OE Robinson”. To avoid confusion on that tour, Dan Lawrence took to calling Robinson jnr “the little guy”.

The younger Robinson’s performances for Durham and with the Lions this winter mean it is not beyond the realms that the two are found on the same scorecard again sometime soon at Test level.

The wicketkeeping berth debate will rage ahead of England’s next Test assignment against West Indies in the summer as the Bazballers enter their second phase under Ben Stokes’s captaincy.

The incumbent Ben Foakes and last summer’s choice, Jonny Bairstow, remain the leading contenders, but a strong start for Robinson in a promoted Durham side (with Stokes watching on) would push him right to the front of the chasing pack with James Rew, Jamie Smith and Phil Salt. Perhaps of all of them, he represents the most all-round package, in that his accomplished keeping is the equal of his rounded batting, which appears ever-more expansive in outlook from his No 5 slot under the Bazball-style approach espoused at Durham. He averages 35 in first-class cricket, but 58 for Durham.

“That’s the aim [to be a pure all-rounder],” he says. “You don’t want one suit to take over. You can become fixated when it comes to training. I’ve done that before, where you neglect one skill. I want to put as much into both as I can.”

Robinson kept for the Lions in India this year, with Rew slotting into the middle order. Robinson recorded three first-innings ducks, but still left in credit thanks to solid keeping and a pair of second-innings 80s. The tour, his first visit to India, was an insight into what it takes to crack the top level, both on and off the field.

“It was an interesting tour, tough at times,” he says. “We were in Ahmedabad, staying in the same hotel for a month, not getting out too much, although Keaton Jennings is adventurous so made sure we embraced the culture. We were playing at the new stadium, which has 130,000 seats or whatever, and hosted the World Cup final a few weeks before. There was no one there – just players, coaches, ground staff and a few monkeys running around at the top of the stand. It’s just a massive playground for them.

“I was happy with how I kept, and it was good to have a chance to work on that. My first-innings batting didn’t go to plan, but I dug deep and worked hard to find a way to score. When I got off nought I was fine.

“It was a big step up from the county game. We were really challenged from ball one at that level. Akash Deep bowled well against us and then showed how good he is when he played against the Test boys [picking up England’s top three in Ranchi]. The biggest thing I took from the trip was that I had to be on it from ball one. You can’t just ease your way into the innings. I’ll be putting a little bit more emphasis on how I start my innings, either in the nets to breed good habits or out in the middle this summer.”

‘A match made in heaven’

Durham have been in Division Two since the enforced relegation for financial reasons in 2016. Robinson joined from Kent ahead of last summer (having had a short loan spell in 2022) and immediately fitted into a side who are not content merely surviving this summer.

“At Kent, I always felt I was the first to go [from the XI] in white-ball cricket, and when I started missing out on the championship team I thought, ‘I’m 23, I’ve played too much cricket to be second best, I want to be No 1 and have consistency now’,” he explains. “[Durham coach] Ryan Campbell and [director of cricket] Marcus North offered me that.

“That backing has helped me improve. I always felt I had the ability, and I’d played a lot by the time I left Kent, maybe 50 first-class games. Nothing feels different apart from the backing I have means the fear of failure has gone a little bit, which is nice. It means I can play my natural game, which is to attack spin and put bowlers under pressure. That feeds into how we want to play as a team, because sometimes our pitches can be flat so we need to give the bowlers the best chance of taking 20 wickets by scoring at a good rate.

“Cambo and Northy are very keen on the idea that county cricket is a feeder to England, so they want us to play like England so the transition naturally becomes smoother. Ben [Stokes] playing for Durham helps that. He’s good mates with a lot of the lads, grew up with them all. But it also is how Cambo played for Western Australia, batting aggressively and hating draws. It’s a bit of a match made in heaven.

“When Cambo first came in, his first message was that he wanted to be the best team in England. First, we had to get promoted, which we did. We will be approaching Division One just like Division Two and if we play the cricket we did last year, we will be in position to win games. Do what we know we can do, we can be a match for any team.

“We should be a better side than last year because having added the likes of Scott Boland and Colin Ackermann, we have a really strong squad of players. I think there will be some really tough selection decisions, because you can’t squeeze everyone into the XI.

“Durham have had it tough over the last 10 years or so, both supporters and players. That is tough to take, so we are doing it for them as well. We have worked very hard as a team, and it would be disappointing not to keep going.”

If Durham can hit the ground running, Robinson will likely be at the heart of it as he continues to make a name for himself.