OLLIE ROBINSON has been suspended by England cricket following the emergence of racist tweets.
And there has now been a second England cricketer probed after being caught up in a racism storm for Twitter posts.
Follow ALL of the latest updates as this story develops below….
- Jake Lambourne
JOHNSON CONTINUED
Speaking of Mr Dowden's comments, Johnson's spokesman said: 'The PM is supportive of comments from Oliver Dowden that he made via tweet this morning.
"These were comments made more than a decade ago, written by someone as a teenager, and for which they rightly apologise."
The Sussex all-rounder left the England camp on Sunday after the drawn First Test and will not play in the Second Test at Edgbaston on Thursday.
And captain Joe Root insisted Robinson has learned a “very hard lesson” and promised England will continue to try to make cricket as inclusive as possible.
With Robinson not likely to feature in England’s 12 white-ball matches in June and July, the earliest he could return would be the First Test against India on August 4.
- Jake Lambourne
OLLIE PLEA
England cricketer Ollie Robinson's suspension for racist and sexist tweets is "over the top" and should be reversed, Boris Johnson has said.
The PM backed calls from Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden for the all-rounder to be reinstated after he apologised for the historic remarks.
The culture secretary said the decade-old posts were "offensive and wrong" but that they were "written by a teenager".
They were unearthed while the 27-year-old made his Test debut for England against New Zealand at Lord's last week.
He has now been suspended from all international matches while the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) conducts a probe.
Wading into the row, Mr Dowden said: "Ollie Robinson’s tweets were offensive and wrong. They are also a decade old and written by a teenager.
"The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again."
- Jake Lambourne
RACE ROW
England are investigating claims another player once posted a racist tweet.
The player is believed to have written ‘#ch**ky’ on Twitter but was under the age of 16 at the time.
An England spokesperson said: “It has been brought to our attention that an England player has posted historic offensive material on their social media account. We are looking into it and will make a further comment in due course.”
The old tweet, unearthed by Wisden.com, comes a day after Ollie Robinson was suspended from Thursday’s Second Test against New Zealand for his racist and sexist social media posts.
England could replace Robinson with Somerset all-rounder Craig Overton who in 2015 was reported for telling former Sussex batsman Ashar Zaidi to “go back to your own f country.”
Overton was cleared of using racist language but found guilty of abusive language. He has since played four Tests.
Source: Read Full Article