ECB suspends Ollie Robinson from international cricket over 'racist and sexist' tweets

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has suspended fast-bowler Ollie Robinson from all international cricket pending the result of a disciplinary investigation into his controversial tweets posted in 2012-13.

Consequently, Robinson will be unavailable for selection for the second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston on Thursday.

In its statement, the ECB confirmed that Ollie will immediately leave the bio-bubble and will return to his county, Sussex.

Robinson, on the other hand, issued an unconditional apology on the tweets, saying that those tweets, being termed as racist and sexist, came many years ago when he was just a teenager.

"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."

His eight to nine years old tweets emerged once again as the fast bowler made his debut for England against New Zealand at Lord’s cricket ground. The ECB promised to conduct a full investigation once the Tweets surfaced.

Ironically, both teams had stood silent on the field shortly before the start of the inaugural Test ‘in a moment of unity’ to denounce various forms of discrimination.

Besides the unfortunate incident, Ollie had a ‘memorable’ debut on the field. He took seven wickets in the game and scored valuable 42 runs in England’s first innings.

However, England captain Joe Root said that despite his ‘exceptional performances on the field, his historical off the field actions were unacceptable.

“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.

"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.”