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England pacer Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all forms of international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation into the racist and sexist tweets he posted as a teenager.
Robinson was the pick of the bowlers for England in the drawn Test against New Zealand with seven wickets and had apologised on last Wednesday for his ‘thoughtless and irresponsible’ tweets.
“England and Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013,” the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement on Sunday (June 6).
The ECB also confirmed that Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to play for his county, Sussex.
It’s not acceptable within our game: Joe Root
Before the start of play on Wednesday, England players, including Robinson, had stood in front of the Lord’s pavilion wearing T-shirts with slogans ‘we stand together against racism’ and ‘we stand together against sexism’.
Just a few hours later, Robinson’s tweets went viral on social media.
“It’s not acceptable within our game,” England captain Joe Root said at the end of the match.
“We all know that. He addressed the dressing room straight away. He obviously spoke to you guys and other media outlets straight away, fronted up to it. He showed a lot of remorse from that point onwards. You can see it’s very genuine from how he’s been around the group and the team.
“And I think it’s a great lesson for everyone within our game that we can all do more. We all have to keep looking to educate ourselves, trying to better the environment for everyone, trying to be as inclusive as we can, keep making everyone feel comfortable to play what a wonderful sport we have.
“It starts with us players at the top of the game. We set out the week with that moment of unity and we’re doing a lot of work behind the cricket that we want to make big change in the game and we want to make it more inclusive, more diverse.
“By doing that, we’re not saying that we’re perfect. We’ve got to keep bettering ourselves as well, and hopefully by doing that it will filter through the game, it will filter through grassroots and through the county game. We’ve got to keep working hard with the PCA, ECB, all the painters to really try and make this game as good as we can for as many people as possible,” Root added.
