Piers Morgan has taken aim at Australia’s “sweet-tongued little lambs” after England fast bowler Ollie Robinson was criticised for giving Usman Khawaja an X-rated send-off.
Robinson gave Khawaja a verbal volley after bowling the Australian opener on day three of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. Khawaja had batted superbly to reach 141 before Robinson snuck a yorker past his defences to uproot his off-stump.
The England bowler was then caught on the stump mic shouting “F*** off you f***ing p****” in Khawaja’s direction in his follow through. The send-off was picked up on by journalists in the press conference at the end of the day, but Morgan was quick to highlight what he saw as hypocrisy by writing a sarcastic post on Twitter.
Alongside pictures of fiery Australian bowlers of yesteryear Dennis Lillee, Merv Hughes, Glenn McGrath and Mitchell Johnson, Morgan tweeted: “I’m absolutely appalled that Ollie Robinson may have used some intemperate language yesterday to send off Khawaja.
“This is something no Australian fast bowler (see below) would ever do, and Ollie should be ashamed of himself for offending the sweet-tongued little lambs. #Ashes”
Robinson refused to apologise for his words in the heat of action at Edgbaston. He said: “I don’t really care how it was perceived – it’s the Ashes, it’s professional sport, if you can’t handle that, what can you handle?
“For me it’s my first home Ashes, and to get the big wicket at the time was special for me. Uzzy played unbelievably well and to get that wicket was massive. We all want that theatre of the game don’t we? I’m here to provide it.”
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He added: “When you’re in the heat of the moment and you have the passion of the Ashes that can happen. I think we’ve all seen Ricky Ponting and other Aussies do the same to us, and just because the boot’s on the other foot it’s not received well.”
For their part, Australia’s team did not seem overly concerned by the language Robinson used. Wicket-keeper Alex Carey, who made 66 in Australia’s first innings, relayed the reaction from the away dressing room.
“Usman hasn’t said anything,” he said. “It’s the Ashes, sometimes it’s going to be hostile. I actually didn’t see anything over the top there.”
Speaking in a press conference after scoring his brilliant hundred, Khawaja did not give the impression that outside noise affects him. “I don’t read the media, I genuinely do not read the media but when I’m getting sprayed by the crowd as I’m walking out there today and as I’m going to nets that I can’t score runs in England,” he said.
“So I guess it was just a bit more emotional than normal. I feel like I’m saying this all the time, same thing happened in India. Not that I have a point to prove but it’s nice to go out there and score runs for Australia and just to show everyone that the last 10 years hasn’t been a fluke.”
