England vs New Zealand: Why 'world class' Ollie Robinson's Test cricket return after two years in exile makes sense

Ollie Robinson back in an England Test squad. Hands up those of you who saw that coming six months ago.

Plenty of hands down, I would imagine, as an international career that has yielded 76 wickets in 20 games at an average below 23 looked pretty much over.

Now, against New Zealand at Lord's from Thursday, it seems set to restart.

Robinson can hold his hands up when it comes to assessing why someone with his stellar stats has not been seen in Test whites since the tour of India in early 2024.

England simply ran out of patience with his low fitness levels and, potentially, a lack of determination to go about fixing them.

In his previous Test, against India in Ranchi, Robinson suffered a back spasm while batting and his pace then slipped under 70mph with the ball.

He also encountered back trouble during the 2023 home Ashes, while his robustness had been questioned way before that, too, with then bowling coach Jon Lewis raising concerns at the 2021/22 Ashes after another back issue.

Lewis said of Robinson at the time: "If he's going to perform consistently over a long period at this level, he'll need to be fitter bowler."

Robinson also annoyed the hierarchy on the trip to India two years ago by revealing behind-the-scenes details on a podcast he hosted with his now wife, social media influencer Mia Baker. An episode was taken down at England's request.

England managing director Rob Key said when discussing Robinson's recall for the New Zealand series that the seamer was not "disruptive" and had never "been a problem in the set-up" but you sense the podcast saga was another black mark against his name.

Add all of Robinson's errors together and it meant a big player in the first iteration of Bazball - he helped England to a series win at home to South Africa and a 3-0 sweep in Pakistan - did not play a game when Bazball 2.0 came into effect as full focus turned to trying to win the Ashes overseas for the first time since 2010/11.

But maybe the penny has finally dropped, for Robinson and England.

In Bazball 3.0, or whatever we are calling this reset after the 4-1 drubbing in Australia, Robinson has an opportunity to play a key role, leading the attack with the new ball.