England debutante Ollie Robinson is reportedly facing the axe from the second Test against New Zealand no matter how he performs at Lord’s. This seems to be a direct consequence of his controversial tweets from 2012 that resurfaced and went viral on Wednesday as he made his Test debut.
Robinson, 27, has since apologised for his ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ tweets.
“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,” Robinson said in a statement. “I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist.”
He continued, “I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks. 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 combating discrimination from our sport. I just want to apologize to everyone. I regret it hugely.”
According to the Daily Telegraph, Robinson, who took 4/75 in New Zealand’s first innings, may be dropped from the second Test starting June 10 at Edgbaston.
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is investigating the matter.
This comes after England and New Zealand cricketers shared a ‘Moment of Unity’ before the start of the first Test at Lord’s to show their support against discrimination.
England batting coach Graham Thorpe has said the board may start reviewing the social media history of its future players to avoid a repeat of the Robinson fiasco.
“He (Robinson) had to say sorry to the dressing room, he had to say sorry to the world about what he did,” said Thorpe.
“So from that perspective it’s very hard for him but he knows he made mistakes. So at the end of the day, that’s why he had to make those apologies. But in our dressing room, we had to support him as well,” he added.
