England men’s cricket team opener Rory Burns was reprimanded by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after he indulged in a Twitter spat with England women’s cricketer Alexandra Hartley.
It all happened after the English team lost the third Test against India by 10-wickets at the newly-renovated Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Joe Root-led side witnessed a batting collapse in both innings.
The visitors were bundled out for 112 and 81 in the two innings, respectively and India chased down the target of 49 runs without losing any wicket in their second essay.
After the match, Hartley tried to take a dig at England men’s team with a tweet. She wrote, “Nice of England boys to get this test match finished just before England women play tonight.”
Nice of the England boys to get this test match finished just before England Women play tonight 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Catch them on @btsportcricket #INDvENG #bbccricket #NZvENG
— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) February 25, 2021
But Hartley’s post did not go down well with Burns, as he responded to the leg-spinner with a tweet, which was deleted later.
“Very disappointing attitude considering all the ‘boys’ do to support the Women’s game,” wrote Burns.
Interestingly, Burns’ tweet was liked by teammates Ben Stokes and James Anderson. Not only Burns, another England men’s cricketer Ben Duckett, who played four Tests for the three lions, termed Hartley’s comments as “average”.
Average tweet. Don’t think any of the men’s team would have been “👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼” if the women lost. https://t.co/4dgW7NMEeM
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) February 25, 2021
After the drama, Hartley clarified her stance while replying to Burns’ tweet, saying her post was taken out of context.
“Think it’s been taken the wrong way/out of context. No offence was meant. We are all test match fans,” tweeted Hartley.
Think it’s been taken the wrong way/out of context. No offence was meant. We are all test match fans pic.twitter.com/NIJU8QM2Xi
— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) February 25, 2021
Nonetheless, Burns was chastised by ECB over his behaviour with Hartley on social media. According to a report in The Guardian, Ashley Giles and Clare Connor, England men’s and women’s cricket teams respective directors, spoke with the two players.
“We recognise the influence high profile people have on social media and have reminded Rory of his responsibilities,” said an ECB spokesperson as quoted by The Guardian.
