'Ponting had a nibble because Robinson took his name in PC': Broad's colossal 'hardly full of shrinking violets' remark

Stuart Broad addressed the Ollie Robinson-Usman Khawaja controversy in a detailed column ahead of the second Ashes Test.

The first Test of Ashes 2023 saw a dramatic finish with Australia registering a narrow two-wicket win against England at the Edgbaston. As expected, it was a blistering start to the series not just in terms of the cricketing prowess on display, but also the fiery rivalry between the two sides that also translated to scuffles between players. In the first Test, England pacer Ollie Robinson and Australia's Usman Khawaja came at loggerheads twice.

Stuart Broad celebrates after taking the wicket of Australia's Scott Boland during day five of the first Ashes Test (AP)

Robinson seemingly cursed Khawaja after dismissing him in the first innings and the latter dished it back to Robinson in the second. The scuffle drew significant media attention with Australian media outlets, as well as former cricketers, criticising Robinson for his behaviour. While the England pacer remained unapologetic with his press conference remarks as well as the post-match comments on the incidents, he did draw a parallel with Ricky Ponting-led Australia, that was also notorious for sledging opponents.

Robinson namedropped Ponting as well, which led the former Aussie captain to go on-record to tell the England fast bowler to focus on his bowling instead. And it seemed the situation hasn't completely cooled down as England's veteran pacer Stuart Broad wrote in detail about the incident in his Daily Mail column, criticising Ponting and Matthew Hayden for their comments on Robinson.

“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,” Broad began.

"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.

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

On Ponting's remarks, Broad stated that the former Australian captain was a big “sledger” but Robinson didn't mean to direct aim at Ponting. Furthermore, the England pacer said the reactions from Australian media have surprised the English dressing room.

"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,” wrote Broad.