The England Cricket Board (ECB) announced its decision to suspend teenage bowler Ollie Robinson from international cricket shortly after the first Test between England and New Zealand concluded in a tie. Following the surfacing of his inflammatory statements on Twitter in 2012 and 2013, the 27-year-old was clearly the most talked-about player in the opening Test of the two-match Test series.
While Robinson’s racist and sexist tweets were exposed as soon as he made his debut — on Day 1 of England’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s — and he apologised, the ECB has suspended him from international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation into his historic tweets.
As a consequence of his ban, the speedster will immediately depart the England team and will thus be unavailable for selection for the second and final Test, which begins on June 10 at Edgbaston.
“The ECB has suspended England and Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson from all international cricket pending the conclusion of a disciplinary inquiry over past tweets he sent in 2012 and 2013,” the ECB said in a statement on Sunday.
In terms of his on-field performance during his maiden Test, Robinson shown steely nerves by returning with seven wickets and a superb 42 in England’s first innings. Joe Root, England’s Test captain, remarked after the match, “With the bat, he (Robinson) made a significant contribution, and his effort with the ball was outstanding. He’s shown a great level of skill, and he’s clearly got the game to succeed in Test cricket.”
“However, in terms of what’s transpired off the field, it’s not acceptable inside our game,” he said. That is something we are all aware of. He went directly into the changing room. He certainly came forward and spoke to you and other media outlets right away. From that point on, he expressed a great deal of regret. From how he’s been around the group and the team, you can tell it’s real.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing [in the tweets].” On the surface, I didn’t know how to handle it. The most important thing is that Ollie is a member of this dressing room, and we have to rally around him. We had to do everything we could to offer him the chance to learn and recognise that he needed to improve.
“I believe it is a terrific lesson for everyone in our game to realise that we can all accomplish more.” We all need to keep learning, trying to improve the atmosphere for everyone, trying to be as inclusive as possible, and making everyone feel welcome to participate in this amazing sport,” Root concluded.