Ollie Robinson ‘felt underdone’ – but now England paceman’s Ashes warm-up is on track

England pace bowler Ollie Robinson, who picked up 7-59 on the first day of the County Championship match at Worcester to help bowl the home side out for 264, said: "Against Yorkshire, I felt a bit underdone really. I needed to play to get that feeling of playing again, fielding, time on my feet all day.

"I had a week off with training, felt really good, and it started off well here as well. It's just getting that momentum of playing again.

"For myself, knowing my body now, I've just got to keep bowling. We've got two more Sussex games after this and then the Ireland Test (before the Ashes).

"I'll try and play all of those, get in as many overs as possible and peak for the Ashes hopefully. It will be biggest series of my career.

"You can see from last year how much the Sussex boys have come on. We are a young team anyway but they are all a year older and batting and bowling look so much better.

"Having Steve Smith and Cheteshwar Pujara is going to help them with that as well. We are looking good this year.

"Hopefully the bad weather stays away here and we can pile on the runs and bowl them out again."

Australian former captain Smith will have been a very interested spectator, making his debut at the start of a three-match stint for Sussex ahead of the Aussies’ World Test final and Ashes summer.

Smith is likely to have his first bat for Sussex – 63 for one overnight – today (Friday) batting at No5.