Ollie Robinson cleared to resume England career after receiving fine and suspension
Pacer Ollie Robinson was on Saturday (July 3) cleared to resume his England career after receiving a fine of £3200 and suspension of eight matches, five of those suspended for two years, from England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) Cricket Discipline Commission.
Robinson was dropped from England squad despite an impressive Test debut at Lord’s against New Zealand last month after the resurfacing of his racist and sexist comments made over Twitter eight years ago.
The pacer was heavily criticised for the same as his historically inappropriate tweets were brought to light only hours after he stood with the rest of the England players at Lord’s wearing shirts that denounced various forms of discrimination.
And though he offered an apology at the time, Ollie Robinson was stood down from England selection for the following Test in Edgbaston pending an enquiry on his comments. The pacer, who was aged only 20 at the most recent timing of those tweets, also opted for a short break from playing for Sussex in the T20 Blast.
Also Read: Ollie Robinson Issue – Focus On Education, Not Just Penalising Players
Ollie Robinson (pic courtesy: Reuters)
Ollie Robinson now available for India Test series
In a hearing pertaining to the matter on June 30, the disciplinary commission kept all the factors in mind before arriving at their final decision.
“Robinson had previously admitted breaching ECB Directives 3.3 and 3.4 in relation to a number of offensive tweets which were posted between 2012 and 2014, when he was aged between 18 and 20. The tweets came to light on 2 June 2021, which was also the first day of his first Test match for England,” the ECB said in a statement.
“Following a hearing on 30 June, the Panel decided that Robinson should be suspended from playing cricket for eight matches, five of which will be suspended for two years.”
As for the rest of those three matches, the commission has taken into account the fact that Ollie Robinson missed the Edgbaston Test match against the Kiwis and also the voluntary withdrawal of the pacer from two Sussex Blast fixtures. Thus, declaring the paceman is now “free to play cricket immediately.”
On his part, Ollie Robinson once again accepted that his remarks were poor and apologised for them, besides also mentioning that he will assist the ECB and Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) to help others learn from his incident.
“I fully accept the CDC’s decision,” Robinson said. “As I have said previously, I am incredibly embarrassed and ashamed about the tweets I posted many years ago and apologise unreservedly for their contents.”
“I am deeply sorry for the hurt I caused to anyone who read those tweets and in particular to those people to whom the messages caused offence. This has been the most difficult time in my professional career for both my family and myself.”
“Whilst I want to move on, I do want to use my experience to help others in the future through working with the PCA.”
Ollie Robinson is now available to play as one of England’s quicks in the upcoming five-Test series versus India, starting August 4. The series will mark the beginning of England’s campaign in the second cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC).