More skeletons continue to tumble out of England and Wales Cricket Board' (ECB) closet. A day after the suspension of Ollie Robinson, reports emerged that another England player in the current national squad posted historical "offensive material". (More Cricket News)
Wisden reported that it uncovered tweets containing derogatory slang and graphics to describe people of Chinese origin, and derogatory terms to describe homosexuality.
The publication also shared a screenshot of the post, with identifying details blanked out:
ECB said the social media posts had been "brought to our attention" and it would make further comment "in due course".
Reports further claimed that the player in question was aged less than 16 at the time, so it has chosen not to name him. It's likely that the player will be removed from the squad.
Minutes after the conclusion of Lord's Test against New Zealand, England suspended 27-year-old Robinson from international cricket pending an investigation into tweets posted in 2012 and 2013.
But many, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and culture secretary Oliver Dowden, have criticised the suspension.
"Ollie Robinson's tweets were offensive and wrong," Mr Dowden wrote on Twitter. "They are also a decade old and written by a teenager. The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again."
PM supported the culture secretary's view. A spokesperson on Monday said the PM is "supportive" of the culture secretary's view that ECB should reconsider the suspension of Robinson.
The ECB has not reacted to these remarks.
Robinson's tweets resurfaced last Wednesday, the first day of his Test debut at Lord's. In a fine debut performance at the Mecca of Cricket, he had taken seven wickets in the match.
At the close of the first day's play, the 27-year-old apologised and said he was going through a difficult period in his life when he posted the racist tweets as an 18-year-old.
"I want to make it clear that I'm not racist and I'm not sexist," Robinson had said. "I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks. I was thoughtless and irresponsible, and regardless of my state of mind at the time, my actions were inexcusable. Since that period, I have matured as a person and fully regret the tweets."
In fact, England players turned up wearing T-shirts carrying messages about anti-discrimination after the discovery of Robinson tweets. But it seems like, more is required.
The ECB itself has been reeling from 'racism' claims from former umpires John Holder and Ismail Dawood.
