England and Wales Cricket Board has said that fast bowler Ollie Robinson can resume playing international cricket after Cricket Discipline Commission after he was deemed to have served his suspension over racist and sexist tweets.
The Cricket Discipline Commission had handed an eight-match suspension to Robinson with five being suspended for two years. He was fined £3,200. Robinson has already missed three matches and, therefore, can be considered for selection into the national time with immediate effect.
The ECB had last month cracked the whip on Ollie Robinson by suspending him from all forms of international cricket in the wake of a controversy triggered by his old racist and sexist tweets. The ECB had said that the England and Sussex bowler had been suspended pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation ‘following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013.’
The development had come even as he impressed everyone with his all-round performance in his debut Test match against New Zealand. Robinson picked up seven wickets in his debut Test against New Zealand at Lord’s and scored 42 valuable runs in the first innings. His knock had helped England avoid a potential defeat at the hands of the Kiwis.
Robinson had to face intense media scrutiny during the first Test match after some of his racist and sexist tweets, posted between 2012 and 2013, surfaced on social media. He had to issue a public apology saying that he was deeply embarrassed by his old social media posts. Reading from a statement, Robinson had said, “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.”
Robinson had later withdrawn himself from selection for his county team, Sussex, after the ECB announced his suspension.