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England suspends seamer Ollie Robinson over racist tweets

Ollie Robinson is an English pacer who made his international debut last week during the opening Test against New Zealand. However, he has been at the receiving end of the fans over historic racist tweets, as ECB has suspended him.

England suspends seamer Ollie Robinson over racist tweets-ayh
Author
London, First Published Jun 7, 2021, 10:58 AM IST

The England and Wales Cricket Board has suspended English pacer Ollie Robinson from international cricket. A week after making his debut, he has been handed a suspension over a series of mean and racist historical tweets back in 2012-13.

"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. He will not be available for selection for the LV= Insurance second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston on Thursday, 10 June. Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county," said ECB in a statement.

Last week, during the opening Test against New Zealand, Robinson made his debut at Lord's, where he was impressive, claiming seven wickets. He also had a decent outing with the bat, scoring 42.

England suspends seamer Ollie Robinson over racist tweets-ayh

However, shortly after making his debut, the news emerged that he had made some mean and racist tweets back in 2012-13 when hardly anyone knew him. Although Robinson immediately apologised for his past tweets, he was heavily criticised, especially when the England and NZ players stood in a 'moment of unity' to fight against any racial discrimination.

"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," Robinson had said after the news of his tweets broke.

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"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 combatting discrimination from our sport," he had added.

England suspends seamer Ollie Robinson over racist tweets-ayh

English Test skipper Joe Root hailed Robinson as a valuable performer but added that what he did in the past had no room, especially in the English dressing room. "He's contributed well with the bat; his performance with the ball was excellent. He's showed high levels of skill and he's definitely got the game that can be successful in Test cricket," he said.

"But, in regards to the stuff that's happened off the field, it's not acceptable within our game. 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," he added.

"I couldn't believe them [Robinson's tweets], personally. I didn't really know how to take it on the surface. I think the most important thing is Ollie is part of this dressing room and we had to support him. We had to try and do everything that we could to give him an opportunity to learn and understand he has to do better," he concluded.

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