Ollie Robinson received no guarantees about his England future from head coach Chris Silverwood after the seamer was indefinitely suspended from international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.
Robinson, now 27, issued an apology for racist and sexist tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013, when he was in his late teens, that were unearthed and shared online on the day he made his Test bow versus New Zealand at Lord’s.
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s suspension of Robinson has been criticised by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who said the decision was “over the top” as he asked the governing body to “think again”.
Robinson may have made an impact on the field, taking seven wickets at Lord’s and contributing an important 42 runs with the bat lower down the order, but he was given no assurances about England after the probe has concluded.
A statement from Ollie Robinson
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 2, 2021
“The investigation will happen and any decisions will be made after that,” said Silverwood, speaking after the drawn first Test.
“Let’s see what comes of it first. There’ll be an investigation and we’ll see after that.
“What should have been one of the greatest days of Ollie’s career didn’t end up well for him. It was disappointing for the group. It was a stark reminder for us all of the responsibilities that we hold in the position that we are in.
“The big thing for us all is education. We are all striving to be better, none of us are perfect, and we all need to make sure we are learning all the time. We can make sure the world is a better place.”
Dowden waded into the matter on Monday, acknowledging Robinson’s tweets were “offensive and wrong” but added they “are also a decade old and written by a teenager”. The ECB had no comment to make when asked about the remarks.
Dowden said: “The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again.”
Downing Street later said Boris Johnson backed Dowden’s assessment.
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.
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) June 7, 2021
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson is “supportive” of the Culture Secretary’s comments.
“As Oliver Dowden set out, these were comments made more than a decade ago, written by someone as a teenager, and for which they have rightly apologised,” the spokesman said.
Robinson was informed about his historical tweets resurfacing when he came off the field at the end of play on Wednesday by Silverwood, who admitted England had to temporarily park the issue to focus on the rest of the Test.
“He was obviously devastated, embarrassed and very remorseful,” said Silverwood. “He was very quick to take on board what had happened. He had to face up to this.
“It’s not what we wanted, that’s for sure. Equally we had to get on with the Test match. That isn’t to say we dismissed it whatsoever. We will seek the education around that in order to try to better ourselves.”
Overton has always denied making the comment and did so again in an interview with wisden.com last week, but England have recently stepped up their attempts to combat discrimination in all its forms in cricket.
England and New Zealand shared a ‘Moment of Unity’ at the Home of Cricket last Wednesday, with the hosts wearing t-shirts incorporating anti-discrimination messages, hours before Robinson’s social media posts came to light.
“If Craig plays, we will deal with that when we get there,” said Silverwood.
Bess, who took 12 wickets in the series win in Sri Lanka at the start of the year before struggling for consistency in India, should be able to train with England from Wednesday after 48 hours of managed isolation.
“Jack’s absolutely fine,” Silverwood added. “The reason we’ve added Dom is that any cover we may need has to be in here with us.
“If Jack was to feature, we would need back-up for him, in terms of concussion replacements and things like that. If we are looking at a spinner and Jack gets injured leading into it, then we will need someone else there.”
Meanwhile, England’s players have been fined 40 per cent of their match fees by the International Cricket Council for maintaining a slow over-rate in the first Test, finishing two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.
