‘I didn’t like Matthew Hayden’s disparaging comments’ - Stuart Broad retaliates after scathing attack on Ollie Robinson

Ollie Robinson’s aggressive celebration after sending Usman Khawaja back to the pavilion has been one of the most talked about incidents from the first Test of the ongoing Ashes 2023.

Notably, the Australia opener was playing some phenomenal cricket and kept the visiting team in the match in the first innings and thus, after picking up his wicket, the English pacer couldn’t keep calm and celebrated in an aggressive fashion, which has since then been criticised by many Australia legends, including the likes of Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden among others.

Meanwhile, ahead of the second Test at the iconic Lord’s, Stuart Broad has come out in defence of his fellow pacer and mentioned that back in the time, Ponting himself was a huge sledger. The veteran pacer also made it clear that he didn’t like the disparaging comments of Matthew Hayden and pointed out that if ICC doesn't have a problem with the matter, they too shouldn’t be bothered.

“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,” Broad wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

“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. Now a couple of expletives the other way and everyone is piling in. Where are we going with this?” he added.

"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.

On the other hand, Zak Crawley too showed his support to Robinson saying that it’s between the players as he expects more sledging and banter in the remaining games of the ongoing series.