The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suspended Ollie Robinson from international cricket just after he had made his debut for England in Tests against New Zealand at Lord’s after his old racist and sexist tweets were unearthed.
Robinson was 18 when he had tweeted some crass things on the social media site, but it resurfaced after he made his Test debut.
He picked 7 wickets and made an important contribution with the bat as well. In midst of the controversy, Robinson also rendered an unconditional apology for his actions.
He was suspended from international cricket pending an investigation after his tweets. He will not be available for selection for the second Test starting at Edgbaston on Thursday. He will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county, Sussex.
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Reacting to the same, India off-spinner R Ashwin tweeted that he was sorry for him being suspended, but cautioned cricketers of what the future holds for social media generation.
"I can understand the negative sentiments towards what #OllieRobinson did years ago, but I do feel genuinely sorry for him being suspended after an impressive start to his test career. This suspension is a strong indication of what the future holds in this social media Gen,” Ashwin tweeted.
Apart from Ashwin, Wasim Jaffer also reacted to the news and quoted Ashwin’s tweet and mentioned, “I am just glad I found Twitter after I retired.”
Batting coach Graham Thorpe has said that going ahead, England could start reviewing the social media history of the players before their selection in the national team.
