"There'll be an investigation and we'll see after that"; England head coach Chris Silverwood offered Ollie Robinson no assurances over his international future once the investigation into the seamer's historical racist and sexist tweets is over; Dom Bess added to squad for second Test
Monday 7 June 2021 20:45, UK
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".
While Robinson apologised, both publicly and privately, saying he was "embarrassed" and "ashamed" of what he had written, he has been stood down from the second Test against the Kiwis at Edgbaston, which starts on Thursday.
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.
"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.
"There is absolutely no place in this game for any form of discrimination whatsoever. He showed a lot of remorse, he apologised publicly, he apologised to the dressing room. I think it's been a really big learning for him.
"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.
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."
Craig Overton may be Robinson's replacement in Birmingham but scrutiny could fall on the seamer, who was banned for two matches after allegedly telling then Sussex player Ashar Zaidi to "get back to your own country" in 2015.
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.
England plumped for an all-seam frontline attack last week but they have added Yorkshire off-spinner Dom Bess to their squad as cover for slow left-armer Jack Leach ahead of the series decider against the Black Caps.
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.
Former England batsman Michael Carberry says he has "no respect" for the comments made by Dowden, arguing that the Culture Secretary's remarks are "coming from a place of no facts or reason".
"I think Oliver Dowden needs to come and spend a day in my shoes and the shoes of most people the the BAME community, and actually speak from a place of facts and reason," he told Sky Sports News.
"When Marcus Rashford - who is trying to do some good in the world and use his platform, trying to do good for kids of all colours, all races, all backgrounds - gets racially abused, I don't hear Oliver Dowden piping up so I have no respect for what his comments are about.
"This is a bloke, clearly, who has never been racially abused, never been racially discriminated against so, as far as I see it, it's coming from a place of no facts or reason."
Carberry added that he believes the Robinson incident is another example of the issues that cricket has to address.
"The game has a massive problem and until people start to deal with the problem - I can speak for most of my community - we are not interested in proposals, what cricket is proposing to do, we need to start seeing action," he said.
"So good on the ECB for suspending Ollie Robinson. I have got some other questions on that: why was this not picked up years ago? Why has this guy been allowed to get this far in his career and achieve what he's achieved at the highest level? It's a disappointment to me."
Watch day one of the second Test between England and New Zealand, at Edgbaston, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday.
