Robinson, who burst onto the Test scene with 28 wickets at 19.60 in his maiden residence season in 2021, has been tormented by harm and sickness since struggling via the fifth Test towards Australia at Hobart in January.
Despite travelling to the Caribbean as arguably England’s first-selection seamer, following the omissions of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Robinson missed all three Tests following a again spasm in the nice and cozy-up match in Antigua.
He then took 5 wickets towards Middlesex in his first outing of the season, earlier than scuffling with meals poisoning at Grace Road, in which he at one stage resorted to bowling offspin after being restricted to a solitary over in the primary innings.
“We have selected a strong squad of players who are in form and who deserve the opportunity to test themselves against high-class international opposition,” Dawson mentioned.
“Matches like this provide a valuable opportunity to see how the selected players handle a step up from county ranks and I am looking forward to working alongside them.
The squad was selected from the pool of available players following consultation with the first-class counties, with the vast majority of players not part of their respective counties’ T20 Blast plans. “I’d additionally like to thank the primary-class counties for his or her collaborative method throughout a busy interval,” Dawson added.
New Zealand’s contingent of IPL players are beginning to link up with the squad, with Devon Conway and Tim Southee having now arrived in the country following their respective teams’ failure to reach the last four, and Kane Williamson due in the coming days after a spell of paternity leave. The new arrivals are expected to play bit-part roles over the coming four days, meaning that the fixture is likely to be downgraded from first-class status.
This would be bad news for Compton, who might otherwise have had two last innings to secure the elusive landmark of 1000 runs before the end of May. The last man to achieve the feat was Graeme Hick in 1988, although in 2012, Compton’s cousin Nick reached 1000 runs on June 1, after a rain delay at Worcester had kept him off the field on May 31.
County Select XI squad: Jack Blatherwick (Lancashire), Michael Burgess (Warwickshire), Ben Compton (Kent), Ben Gibbon (Worcestershire), Nick Gubbins (Hampshire), Tom Haines (Sussex), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Ryan Patel (Surrey), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), Jamie Porter (Essex), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire).