The England and Cricket Board (ECB) on Sunday suspended bowler Ollie Robinson from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following ‘historic’ tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013.
The ECB confirmed that Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county, Sussex, adding that he will not be unavailable for selection for the second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston starting Thursday.
Statement: Ollie Robinson suspended from all international cricket
— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) June 6, 2021
Robinson apologised on Wednesday for making “racist and sexist” statements on Twitter he posted over eight years ago as a teenager. Robinson made his Test debut at Lord’s in the first match of the series and news of the tweets broke immediately after he stepped onto the field.
After play on Wednesday, Robinson said: “On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, which have today become public. I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist.”
He further said that he deeply regrets his actions and is ashamed of the remarks he made. “I would like to unreservedly apologise to anyone I have offended, my teammates and the game as a whole in what has been a day of action and awareness in combatting discrimination from our sport,” Robinson said.
Moreover, speaking after the drawn first Test, in which Robinson took a total of seven wickets in England’s first innings, Joe Root, the England captain, said that while Robinson’s debut had been “exceptional” from an on-field performance point of view, his historical actions off-field were unacceptable.
“He’s contributed well with the bat, his performance with the ball was excellent,” Root said. “He’s showed high levels of skill and he’s definitely got the game that can be successful in Test cricket. But in regards to the stuff that’s happened off the field, it’s not acceptable within our game,” he added.
He continued to say that he could not believe the tweets and didn’t really know how to take it on the surface of it all. The ECB promised to conduct a full investigation once the tweets emerged.