LONDON: Ollie Robinson is free to play for England again after receiving a ban on eight matches – five of them were suspended – for offensive tweets he posted a few years ago, the British cricket board and Wales announced on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Pace Bowler will be available for the upcoming British match including the five test series with India as a discipline panel that considers it to serve a ban on three matches.
He was also fined £ 3,200 ($ 4,400).
The sailor was suspended from the English assignment waiting for an investigation after racist and sexist posts made between 2012 and 2014 reappeared during his test debut in the first test against New Zealand in June.
“After the trial on June 30, the Discipline Commission panel decided that Robinson had to be suspended from playing cricket for eight matches, five of them would be suspended for two years,” read the verdict.
“Regarding the three matches which are the subjects of direct suspension, the panel has taken into account the suspension imposed by the English team from the second test against New Zealand, along with two matches T20 from which Robinson voluntarily withdrew from the selection because of Sussex due to the impact of these processes.
“Therefore Robinson is free to play cricket immediately.” The panel said they took into account several factors in achieving their decision.
“The panel takes into account a number of factors including the nature and content.
From the tweet, the extent of their discrimination, their broad deployment in the media and the amount of audience to whom they are available, “they said.” The panel also considers significant mitigation, including the time that has passed since it was posted, and a number of personal references that showed that Robinson, who chose to overcome the panel, was a very different person who sent tweets.
“This also takes into account regret, acceptance and cooperation and the great impact that revelations of this tweet and the consequences are on it and their families.” Robinson told the panel that he was willing to follow their recommendations and utilized his experience to speak in training programs regarding the use of social media and anti-discrimination in the next two years.
Following the revelation of Robinson and disclosure of other English players who posted offensive tweets while under the age of 16 ECB launched a social media review.
The Furore affected Robinson as far as he rested from the game but since then returned to action.
Robinson – who performed well with bats and balls on his exam debut even though they were in the eyes of the storm on the tweet – receiving support from other players including the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar.
“We need to understand that he did it, many years ago and he was sorry,” Tendulkar told AFP in June.