England fast bowler, Ollie Robinson returned with 7 wickets and made 42 runs in his debut Test. However, he has been suspended from international cricket after his old Tweet resurfaced on social media which had sexist and racist remarks.
Following the first Test, the England and Wales Cricket Board suspended Robinson from all international cricket, meaning he won’t be available for the selection for the second Test. His impressive performance in the first Test was overshadowed by the re-emergence of the sexist remarks he posted on Twitter back in 2012 and 2013 as a teenager.
“England and Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013,” said an ECB statement.
Over the years, numerous cricketers have found themselves in trouble due to their social media activities. Here’s a look at some of them:
1. Suryakamar Yadav
Ever since he has made his debut for India, Suryakumar Yadav has become a talking point in most cricket conversations. The Indian cricketer though didn’t have a fruitful first phase of IPL 2021. He would be returning to International cricket when India will play a white-ball series against Sri Lanka in July.
Back in 2017, Suryakumar found himself in trouble after he retweeted a post, that questioned his exclusion from the Mumbai squad for the Inter-state T20 tournament. The Mumbai Cricket Association also asked him for an explanation for doing so. In 2016 as well, he expressed his displeasure on Twitter for not including him in the semi-final match against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.
2. Kevin Pietersen
In the year 2010, Kevin Pietersen was dropped from the England side for a series against Pakistan. The selectors’ decision didn’t go down too well with Pietersen, who instead used abusive language to vent his anger on Twitter.
However, later he deleted that post and came up with an apology.
“It came out in the way that I didn’t want it to come out. It was something that wasn’t meant for the public domain and I apologize for it entering the public domain and I also want to apologize for the language I used. It wasn’t anything against the England selectors or the England setup. I was pretty upset about my own form and frustrated about it too,” he said.
3. John Mooney
Back in 2013, John Mooney posted something on social media for which he had to be suspended for three games. After the death of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mooney took to social media to post that he hoped the Prime Minister’s death had been slow and painful. This didn’t go down too well with the public, and Cricket Ireland too had to intervene in the matter.
“John Mooney has been severely reprimanded by Cricket Ireland and handed a three-match suspension following his tweet regarding the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher,” Cricket Ireland said in a statement.
4. Emily Smith
Australian cricketer, Emily Smith was banned for as many as 12 months for mistakenly disclosing a piece of inside information regarding a game. She took to Twitter to reveal that Hobart Hurricanes was due to face Sydney Thunder without any official confirmation. CA’s Anti-Corruption Code prohibits players from revealing any inside information regarding teams or matches.
“Whilst Cricket Australia acknowledges that at the time of posting the team line-up there was no intent to breach the Anti-Corruption Code, CA’s rigorous anti-corruption player education program means that players are well aware of their obligations under the Anti-Corruption Code and there is no excuse for breaches regardless of the reasons for information being disclosed.” Carroll, the CA’s head of integrity and security, said in a statement.
5. Rory Burns
Following England’s pink-ball Test defeat against India, which concluded within two days, England’s women cricketer Alex Hartley left a post on social media account.
“Nice of the England boys to get this Test match finished just before England Women play tonight.” She wrote.
Her Tweet didn’t go down well with Rory Burns, who responded and said, “Very disappointing attitude considering all the “boys” do to support the women’s game.”
Burns, though had later deleted the Tweet as one of the members of the England team management made him remind of his social media responsibilities.