England paceman James Anderson on Tuesday (June 8) said that the team has accepted young Ollie Robinson’s apology for having written racist and sexist tweets several years ago, even as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has suspended the pacer and initiated a disciplinary investigation. Robinson, who took seven wickets on his Test debut against New Zealand, is unavailable for the second Test that begins at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Thursday (June 10).
While speaking to the British media, Anderson said that Robinson apologised to the team and that it was accepted. The bowler was asked if some team members were uncomfortable with Robinson’s apology, Anderson said: “No, I think it`s been accepted.”
Anderson said Robinson has matured since his series of tweets of 2012 and 2013, full of racists and sexist connotations, surfaced. “He stood up in front of the group and apologised and you could see how sincere he was and upset he was, and I think as a group we appreciate that he is a different person now. He’s done a lot of maturing and growing since then, and he`s got the full support of the team,” he said.
Robinson’s tweets surfaced on Wednesday (June 8), the day he made his Test debut against New Zealand at Lord’s, London. Anderson said that the English players are learning from the Robinson episode and trying to get educated.
“Well yeah, I think it’s as you know it is a difficult time. I think as players we’re trying to learn from this really,” he said.
“We realise that it’s important to try and get educated around these issues, which we’re continuing to do with the ECB and the PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association) we’ve already been doing workshops before this series to try and help improve ourselves as people, basically to try and make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen.”
Anderson would become England’s most-capped Test player if he plays in the second Test against New Zealand. It would be his 162nd Test, leaving former batsman and captain Alastair Cook behind.
(with IANS inputs)
