England’s Test skipper Joe Root has admitted that the team has faced some ‘ugly truths’ in the last few days but they is now committed to positive change after tweet row.
The two-match Test series between England and New Zealand stands level with the first Test match ending up in a draw. The first Test match saw the likes of Ollie Robison making his debut for England.
However, the pacer’s historical posts went viral on the day that he made his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord’s. The 27-year-old had posted ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ tweets in 2012 and 2013 which now has turned into a full-blown controversy.
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Following the incident, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has already suspended Robinson from international cricket for the offensive tweets and in the latest development other big names have also been dragged into the matter and the governing body has begun investigations into the matter.
Ahead of the second Test match against New Zealand, English skipper Joe Root admitted that they had faced ugly truths past week and it would be challenging for the team, but asserted they are committed to moving forward.
"We've had to face up to some ugly truths this past week or so and there will be challenges moving forward. The group of players we have now is very much committed to moving the game forward, to make it a better place, making it more inclusive and educating ourselves further,” Joe Root said ahead of the second Test match.
Root claimed that they want to move forward positively and they’ll keep going on the journey they’ve started to better the sport.
"We're going to have to front up to what has happened, but ultimately we want to move forward in a really positive way, to keep going on this journey we've started of trying to better our sport. I think that will be proven in the actions that we take following through in the rest of the year," he said.
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Joe Root further said that they are committed to making positive change and want to create a better team environment.
"This is just the start of things in many ways. We are committed to making positive change in the sport and... we're not saying that we are perfect in that we've never made mistakes, but we do want to make it a better place,” he said
The second Test match between England and New Zealand will kick start on Thursday (10th June). It would be interesting to see who would replace Ollie Robinson in England’s XI.
(Reuters inputs)
