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Follow UsEngland seamer Ollie Robinson has suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following the tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Sunday.
Robinson will be unavailable for the second Test against New Zealand as a result and will return to his county, Sussex.
Statement: Ollie Robinson suspended from all international cricket
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 6, 2021
The right-arm pacer, who made his England debut earlier last week, claimed 4-75 and 3-26 in the drawn first Test against New Zealand. Last Wednesday, Robinson issued an apology for his past behaviour.
"On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, which have today become public. I want to make it clear that I'm not racist and I'm not sexist.
"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."
England skipper Joe Root praised Robinson for his debut, while saying that the off-field actions of the 27-year old were unacceptable.
"He's contributed well with the bat, his performance with the ball was excellent," Root said of Robinson, who scored 42 in the first innings.
"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 added. "I couldn't believe them [the tweets], personally. I didn't really know how to take it on the surface. I think the most important thing is Ollie is part of this dressing room and we had to support him. We had to try and do everything that we could to give him an opportunity to learn and understand he has to do better."
The ECB promised to conduct a full investigation once the tweets emerged.
