As far as double-acts go, it’s your quintessential, old-school comedic duo. Robinson hurls down the one-liners around off stump at the expense of Pakistan’s batters, while Smith, the straight man, just stands there. Robinson has 23 dismissals across three Tests this summer (the first seven against New Zealand in June), and Smith has not effected any of them. But he has affected almost all of them.
Robinson was talking specifically about the “medium-pace, keeper up” tactic that is enjoying a renaissance in modern Test cricket, thanks in particular to seamer-friendly pitches in England and Australia. It chokes batters’ movements; forcing them to stay in their crease and, naturally, hang back, making it harder to react in time to the ball decking off the surface. Techniques go out of sync, front pads and edges everywhere. Even a player of Joe Root’s class can’t escape being a punchline.It feels especially on the nose that Robinson is succeeding with this tactic in this England team. In 2024, Rob Key remarked that “75mph, keeper-up, dobbing it on a length” does not work in Test cricket. Yet that tactic is working perfectly for a bowler who was told, publicly and privately by the men’s managing director, that his effective operating speeds needed to have an ‘8’ in front of them. To be fair to the 32-year-old, his summer average does (8.34), courtesy of an average pace around 77mph.
Jamie Smith has worked closely with Sarah Taylor on his technique standing up to the stumps•Philip Brown/Getty Images
“I think being able to be my own bowler, and not trying to be too attacking, has definitely helped,” Robinson said of his opening role, which has netted him three player-of-the-match awards in as many Tests.
“I think with those guys at the other end, it does allow me just to sit in, be very patient, very consistent – which is my super strength. That helps me a lot, I think. I probably wouldn’t have got the wickets I’ve got this series without those other guys.
“It’s been mentioned a few times, but three guys that bowl 90, you don’t have that much in world cricket, and it makes my job a hell of a lot easier to keep applying the pressure and let those guys just fly in.”
Pressure has been applied, primarily, with wobble-seam deliveries. Robinson has not bothered swinging the ball much, nor has he felt the need to vary speeds by a few clicks here and there. He has simply manipulated his fingers around the Dukes seam, and shuffled through a few different positions at the crease while maintaining a tall release point.
All of which would not be as effective if batters were able to stand a few more steps forward to cover for that movement, or even charge down to knock Robinson off his fuller lengths. For that, he had Smith to thank.
The Surrey wicketkeeper is a batter first. However, England felt there was enough to work with when they brought in Smith at the start of the 2024 summer, as a halfway house between Ben Foakes’s glovemanship and Jonny Bairstow’s effervescent batting.
Smith’s form in front of the stumps has oscillated, though a vital 61 in the first innings of this second Test hints at an upturn. Behind them, progress has been steady, culminating in an acceleration this summer instigated by new assistant coach Sarah Taylor.
Smith’s name has not been directly linked to any of Robinson’s dismissals this summer, but his impact behind the stumps has been crucial•Gareth Copley/Getty Images
An England women’s legend, Taylor spent most of her career with the bails at the brim of her helmet. She has drilled Smith across the summer, and has instilled one key fundamental to keeping up close – stillness.
That is something Smith struggled with earlier this summer, during the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge. When the pitch deteriorated, and the bounce with it, it felt like he was wearing more than he was catching. Robinson was not selected in that XI, with the slowest seamers in the attack, Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson, operating in the mid-eighties.
“Sarah Taylor has been very good at helping me along the way with this, of just trying to stay as still as possible and it’s not always the easiest,” Smith explained to Test Match Special at the end of the second Test.
“I think if you look at where I was at Trent Bridge, I was moving around a lot. It wasn’t necessarily as comfortable as it is now. So just trying to stay as still as possible has been a big thing. Even though sometimes you might not get in the best position, but you’re just trying to stay as still as you can to catch it.
“It’s very fresh and a new thing that seems to be the common trend [keeping up to the stumps to pace bowling]. So not having a lot of experience, [it has been] a little bit eye-opening at times, [like] at Trent Bridge in the last series. But as time’s gone on, it’s getting a little bit more comfortable, day on day, I guess.”
Robinson and Smith combine again to dismiss Ali Usman at Headingley•Getty Images
During the second Test, Smith stood up to seamers on 121 occasions, having done so 137 times in Nottingham. His improvement was demonstrated by just four byes conceded in the 50.5 overs of Pakistan’s second innings. That came in a single ball when Dan Lawrence fired his first offspin delivery of the match full and down the leg side.
Trust is a huge thing in any double act. Robinson admits he has taken time to warm to having the keeper up. Dismissals like that of Abdullah Shafique at Lord’s – bowled top of off with one that nipped away from a right-hander whose feet were rooted on the line despite pressing forward – has now convinced him.
“When Smudge first came up to the stumps [against New Zealand], I hated it. I think I was like, ‘Can you go back?’ straight away.
“It’s one of those things in your mind you have to try and adapt to. But I would say it’s changed my game, it’s changed my bowling.
“To get the batters stuck on the crease on these wickets, like we’ve seen, it’s almost unplayable sometimes with the nip and getting them trapped right back on the crease. That’s definitely added another dimension to my bowling.”
Crucially, Smith is also trusting himself. Since coming into the side, many have felt he needed to be more vocal and proactive. The signs are there that he is imposing himself in the position more, and there have been moments in this series when Smith has taken it upon himself to stand up, without prompting.
That initiative is an absolute must in this environment, especially now that Stokes no longer calls all the shots. It is something Smith’s county and keeping mentor, Alec Stewart, excelled at during his England days.
“When we first walked into it, maybe at Lord’s on the first Test against New Zealand, I’d say I was a little bit more apprehensive of it [standing up] at times.
“It was more led by if Ollie Robinson felt I needed to be up to the stumps to help him take a wicket, then that was the best course to go, or at the time Stokes, he was saying to come up.
“But I feel like now that there’s a bit more confidence, I guess from both sides. He [Robinson] is a bit more comfortable with me coming up.
“He’s probably not had a lot of exposure to a keeper also standing up to him. So it’s same for both of us. Now I think we’ve got a better understanding when’s the right time to come up and when’s not.”
In lieu of any meaningful on-field resistance from Pakistan, the Robinson-Smith connection is an example of what can be forged in a one-sided series. It will be one of the many bonds tested over the winter in South Africa and Bangladesh, ahead of next summer’s must-win Ashes – when Alex Carey, perhaps the foremost exponent of the technique right now, is set once again to be Smith’s opposite number.
For now, it is proving mighty effective for a returning Robinson, a surer Smith and an improving England.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at Cricinfo