Stuart Broad hits back at Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden for slamming Ollie Robinson

Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad has come in support of rookie Ollie Robinson.

Ace England pacer Stuart Broad backed his teammate Ollie Robinson and hit back at Australian legends Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden for their poor remarks on the pacer, as he was slammed by the duo for his on-field behavior and tiff with Usman Khawaja in the first Ashes 2023 Test at Edgbaston.

Robinson had given a filth-laden send-off to Khawaja after he had dismissed him in Australia‘s first innings after his splendid century.

Robinson went on to explain that he afterwards talked to Khawaja and cleared the air with him. He claimed that the Australian opener advised him to watch what he said and that they had a good conversation.

However, his gestures and words were not appreciated by the Australian media and former Kangaroos cricketers with legends like Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden heavily criticizing the English pacer.

The verbal conflict between Ollie Robinson, another teammate, and the former Australian cricketers Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, and Justin Langer has been escalated by Stuart Broad.

Broad expressed surprise at the manner ex-Australia cricketers have attacked Ollie Robinson in his new column for the Daily Mail in response to his send-off of Usman Khawaja.

“A lot more has been made of words on the field between Ollie Robinson and Usman Khawaja than ought to have been, to be honest. Ultimately, the ICC had no problem with Ollie’s reaction to dismissing Khawaja in the first innings and I didn’t like Matthew Hayden’s disparaging comments about him.

Ollie averages 21 with the ball in Test cricket over a decent amount of time and bowls in a very similar way to Glenn McGrath. Yes, there was a bit of emotion on the field, but off it we are obviously seeing the Australian guys in the pavilion corridors all the time, eating lunch in the same room and we enjoyed a nice-natured week,” Broad wrote.

Ricky Ponting had a bit of a nibble because his name was brought into things - Stuart Broad

Broad called out former Australia captain Ricky Ponting and stated that he himself was a big “sledger.”

“Ricky Ponting had a bit of a nibble because Robbo brought his name into things during a press conference, but not because Ricky was a huge sledger. Ollie had a bit of a mind blank, Ricky Ponting was the most famous ex-Aussie cricketer he could think of, and that Australia team he played in was hardly full of shrinking violets, so the hoo-ha that was created surprised us.

I’m sure it’ll die down pretty quickly, though, because with the teams getting on so well it’s a little bit of an irrelevance,” he said.

The second Test of the Ashes 2023 begins on June 28 at Lord’s.